In order to figure anything out, one must either start from the very beginning or the end – from the beginning of creation or from its final goal. After all, what’s in the middle belongs to our work, free choice. By analyzing the beginning and the end, we have to understand what we have to do in the middle.

The difference between the beginning and end of the path lies in acquiring the intention of bestowal. Nothing but this changes in reality. By changing the intention, we attain our difference from the Creator and correct it. Therefore, it is clear that our task lies only in attaining this proper intention.

Every action consists of thought, speech, and action. Thought is the plan preceding everything, which initially includes the result of the action. And in the middle, between the plan and the execution, there is speech, meaning discernment.

And in order to make the proper discernment, there must be concentration. This is why Kabbalists have a custom of being silent, which is also done in this world. When a person is about to undergo an important event and he wants to understand how to do it, he focuses on it, requiring silence, and trying to close himself off so he won’t be bothered by external conversations. He intensely prepares to carry out the action correctly.

That is why we want to spend the weekend in silence, in quiet, and think about how we can attain the right action. Instead of talking, we will make discernments in silence.
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From the preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/10/12

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When we read The Book of Zohar, we must clarify to ourselves in every way we can and especially in our thought and intentions that we are now entering a room where we can ask and receive if the request is the right one. A person should feel that he is given a chance to enter and say one sentence only. If you can’t awaken whoever is in the room upon whom your destiny depends, you will miss that chance and will not get another chance again. If a person feels this way, even if he gets more chances, it can help him.

So we must know:

1. All the changes that we must first desire are changes for bestowal and love of others and from that to the love of the Creator.
2. These changes are fulfilled in us only by the upper force that can influence us and perform the changes only if we want them and only as much as we can want the level above us.

We don’t understand these changes yet, and we don’t fully want them because these changes are towards bestowal and love of others. However, I try as hard as I can. I must believe that if my request is the right one, these changes will immediately take place in me.

So we have to imagine a picture and hold on to it while reading The Zohar while being in the request, in a prayer, in submission and yearning. Even if we haven’t reached the real request, but thanks to our yearning, like a prayer before a prayer, we hope that our request will assume the correct form. If I don’t know how to ask from Him, I ask Him to help me know how to ask.

I can’t tell Him: “I am asking but I don’t know how, so you do it!” That won’t work. He can’t do that, because my request must be correct. Otherwise I have nowhere to receive the correction. This means that I can’t beg with half a request so that He will correct me according to this half request. I can ask Him to correct my half request and make it a full request and only then will the correction come. This is called “a prayer before a prayer.”

Suppose I come to my landlord and have to fill out a request form in which there are many items. Although I have good relations with this landlord and everything is open before me, he still tells me how to fill out the form. When I fill it out, I see the right attitude needed so that I can receive what I want, and he gives it to me.

First I thought that he was ready to give it to me from the bottom of his heart without any preconditions. But this isn’t the case. I have to clarify on this form why, what for, how much, when, how and from whom to receive, and so on. It must all be organized because this is how He correctly stabilizes the receiver in order to receive.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/4/12, The Zohar

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All the work is done by the Light, which returns to the source. But for this I first need to realize my evil, to feel that my desire, my qualities, my state cause me harm. I feel so bad that I am about to explode from this demand called MAN, a prayer.

However, this demand must be properly structured: Why do I wish to rid myself of my evil? Is it only to make myself feel good, or I am not able to tolerate this evil because it is not me that it harms, but others?

When I discover that my qualities are harming my neighbor and the Creator (and this can only be discovered through working in the group), I find myself before two uncompromising facts. On one hand, I value bestowal very much and wish to attain bestowal to the Creator through bestowing to the creatures, as it is written: “From love for the creatures to love for the Creator.” But on the other hand, I feel that I am very far from it, and this causes me suffering.

The reforming Light (the Light which returns to the source) gives me this realization, and this is called preparation, through which I realize my full measure and achieve an absolute prayer, desperation from my lack of the quality of bestowal, participation, mutual guarantee, and love for my neighbor, without which it is impossible to attain love for the Creator.

Man purposefully lacks the need for bestowal so he would feel that he needs it! Because only then will I have an opportunity to someday escape my egoistic desire, and when I attain bestowal, it will be the real bestowal.

But if I could see pleasure and a certain personal benefit in bestowal from the beginning, instead of being bestowal, this would be a concealed reception. This is why it is necessary to advance from the opposite by working in the group and preparing your desire. And until I feel that connection is more important than me and my friend is more important than me, I am not considered to have a desire to bestow and merge with the Creator. [Read more →]

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If I wish for the Light to influence me from above, I need to create my own desire from below, which would suit the upper Light. In other words, this desire must be directed specifically at bestowal, like the Light that comes from the Giver.

But we do not know what the desire to bestow is, and we could be wrong a thousand times without ever finding the right answer. The group is given to us so we could find it. The group is in opposition to everyone; it allows us to work from “the contrary” because I must love them, think about them, and care for them, which absolutely does not correspond to my desire. This helps me see how opposite to and how much I fail to correspond to the quality of bestowal, the Creator.

I can learn everything through this work. The main thing is to make sure to not become confused, and to strive towards the Creator through the group and then it will become like the Creator to me, evoking the same repulsion, hatred, and lack of desire.

This is because I will perceive the group as the place of bestowal, but I do not wish to bestow: I want to receive from it. I like being with my friends, helping them, and hugging them because I enjoy it. But I cannot connect with them in order to please the Creator; this would spread and would become consumed somewhere inside the group, in a concealed higher source there without bringing me any compensation in return. But this is the only way to achieve the right desire, which will eventually evoke awakening from Above.

The Creator must be my final goal, not the group. Only then will I discover how incapable I am of uniting with Him, and I do not even need the group. After all, the Creator is some kind of a disappearing upper root, which does not benefit me in any way.

I still feel like the group is somewhat beneficial: We get together, have meals, organize conventions, and have a good time. Many people in the world would pay a lot of money to be in this kind of a group, like a nice club, to embellish their lives; it is impossible to find a warm and spiritual circle like this anywhere else. [Read more →]

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The Book of Zohar, Chapter “Beresheet (Genesis),” Item 119: The lights of David’s Malchut depict the depiction to the degrees from Malchut’s Chazeh and below, where there is no face of a man. That is, the degrees from Chazeh and below rise and become included in David’s Malchut, which is the face of a man from Chazeh and above.

A depiction means a level of some degree. Depicting is like mating because in a Zivug, the degrees come out in the proper depiction according to the quality of that Zivug, to correct the depiction of all those who are included in the face of a man, in an inner depiction.

Within creation there are four types of desire: still, vegetative, animate, and human. They develop step by step because the Creator’s intention is to bring this creature through the still, vegetative, and animate levels to such a developmental degree that it desires to become human. After all, the creature doesn’t become human naturally, as Nature or the Creator would make it happen. No, the human depiction is revealed in this creature only as a result of preliminary understanding, comprehension, desire, efforts, and pleas—everything that stems from itself. That’s the only way it happens!

That is why this development is gradual. Little by little, over the course of tens of thousands of years’ worth of our development throughout history, on all our preceding and very distant degrees, we essentially “sow” within the inner qualities of perception, so that today in our generation, they would awaken and help us to realize our purpose. Indeed, at the human level we must resolve for ourselves the form and manner in which we must grow, why it must be this way and not that—to truly mold “from a piece of marble” something that didn’t exist before, something that has never been mentioned anywhere and lacks any kind of example.

I need to come to know the Creator, and then fashion out of myself, out of this “piece of marble,” the same form accordingly. And the Creator doesn’t reveal Himself in this process, for if He would reveal himself, I would only take from Him something superficial. Whereas I need to study Him, dig down to reveal the inner essence, from my very innermost desires and across the depths of all my degrees—still, vegetative, animate, and human. And then I am to decide whether or not to become similar to the Creator, for this is completely opposite to what I desire initially. Building a human is very hard and meticulous work that takes tremendous attention to every detail. This is precisely the work we study in the Book of Zohar, in the Chapter “Two Great Luminaries.”
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/8/12, The Zohar

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Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut” (Mutual Guarantee), (abridged version): But the end of the correction of the world will be by bringing all the people in the world under His work.

Indeed the world will be corrected when it reaches complete adhesion with the Creator. This end is guaranteed.

But the role of Israel towards the rest of the world resembles the role of our Holy Fathers towards the Israeli nation: Also, it is upon the Israeli nation to qualify itself and all the people of the world to develop until they take upon themselves that sublime work of the love of others, which is Dvekut with Him. Thus, each and every Mitzva that each person from Israel performs in order to bring contentment to one’s Maker, helps to some extent with the development of all the people of the world, until it increases to such a degree that it can bring all the people in the world to the desired purity “shifting the balance to virtue.”

The general structure of reality is divided into several levels: the forefathers, the sons, Israel, and the people of the world.

The forefathers, according to their nature, yearned for the Creator. They didn’t need to be a people. It was enough for them to be in a small group. Some of them perhaps even managed without it, like Adam HaRishon, the first Man, for example. In Abraham’s time there were already groups, and his students were connected like one family. Still, it was a person’s individual work.

Later, since the days of the exile in Egypt, it was the sons’ turn. The egoism grew and now working with it demanded not just a group but a people, the people of Israel, that corrected itself by the Torah in the states called the desert, the Land of Israel, and the first and second Temples.

Then the people of the world join this process with the shattered part of Israel that is incorporated in them. Today we are all on this level together, and we should do the same thing the Fathers did for us. First we have to correct ourselves, and then pass on the correction to the people of the world.

We should remember that the people of the world will not begin to operate on their own. All those who belong to the other levels, the shattered part of Israel and the part of the people of the world that were mixed in it, awaken towards the correction. The ten lost tribes about which we know nothing are also incorporated here.

Thus, the people of the world come closer to the correction by those who can wake up, those who have the spiritual point lit in their hearts. There is no point to sitting and waiting for the general awakening of the people of the world. It won’t happen by itself, not now and not in the future. Our participation is needed here: We correct ourselves, and according to our level of correction, the Light passes to them and thanks to it they are corrected.

It is a relatively passive part of the general soul. It says that the people of the world will carry the children of Israel on their shoulders to Jerusalem, but we have to begin the correction. There are always two parts: the part that corrects and the part that is corrected by the forces that come from Above.

Of course, great preparation is needed for that, which is done by dissemination. Passive readiness to receive help and to take part in the process as much as they can is required on the part of those who are corrected.

But the correction itself comes from the people with the point in the heart who can pass the necessary forces though them from the top down.

So we shouldn’t expect only “an awakening from below.” Even the smartest and most intelligent people will not wake up by themselves. They may only agree to some extent, join the work a little, but passively.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/16/11, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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“Forefathers,” the highest degree of the common soul, have made the main corrections in the system in order to activate it (marked in red). Others, “sons” (marked in green), can also join it.

They already have something to rely on, that is, the teachings of our forefathers who have left a functioning, interconnected system, which operates according to the laws of similarity of Lights and vessels. This is the “teaching,” the Torah. And the “Creator” is something that is revealed in the system.

Overall, the system that exists on a certain degree of inner balance and unity is called the “Torah.” Moreover, it can manifest on different levels, ascending as we gradually manifest it and more clearly reveal the Creator in it.

So who are “we?” We are the components of the spiritual system, which we want to reveal.

Baal HaSulam writes in the “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot” that the forefathers have prepared a system and left us a method. This now enables us to evoke illumination from the degree they have attained. No matter where you are, you have an ability to establish a connection and connect to this system that they have built between them.

How do you connect? Through Kabbalistic books, the group, the study, and the teacher. By using these tools I connect to the system, and it begins to influence me until I completely connect with it. And this is so for all.

We build a test system between us in order to do this, and in this way we begin to correspond to the forefathers, which activates very powerful forces. On the other hand, it is very difficult to do this individually; only a few individual souls were capable of this.

Thus, there are people with a point in the heart (•) who aspire towards a connection with the common system, even though they do not know for sure what drives them. By building a net, similar to the system of the forefathers, they connect with them, and then both nets merge into one.

And then the correction of the third level—the nations of the world—begins until this entire space becomes completely filled, without leaving a single empty space.

So how do the nations of the world become corrected? They are corrected through connection. At first they are drawn towards education, a message about correction is spread through them—and then they are pulled up. In the end, the vessels of the AHP support the vessel of Galgalta ve Eynaim, and everyone merges into one single Kli, which becomes entirely filled with Light: the revelation of the perfection of the Creator by His creatures. This is the purpose of creation.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/17/11, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Rabash’s Letter #8: Gather in a tight group of people in one place and under one guidance to withstand the attacks of the enemies with the power of overcoming, beyond any human limitations….

The power of overcoming beyond any human limitations—how is this possible? Does anyone really possess such power? Beyond human limitations—this is already the Creator!

This means that only the power of the upper one can help us rise, to withstand this condition and all the inner enemies (obviously, this does not imply external enemies). Every one of us has plenty of thoughts and desires, which confuse us and do not let us be even for a moment. We need to fight against all of them, which is impossible to do on our own—but can only be done by a power beyond human means, the power of the upper.

The power of the upper is the Creator’s power, which is provided to us through the power of the group. We cannot turn directly to the Creator—only to the group. He is in no other place—only inside of it.

This is why we need to try to always be together with our friends, in common thoughts and desires—simultaneously, on the same frequency and in one direction of movement, like singing or dancing together. And there we will find this power that will support us, regardless of all the disturbances that come from the “attacks of the enemies.”

“Of course they are courageous and strong spirited people, their decision is set in stone since they will not take even a single step back. They fight from the very first degree at war with the evil inclination until the last drop of blood. And they only aspire towards victory in this war in the name of the Creator.”

Well, who can say this about himself, which hero will that be? Maybe only a child would from lack of experience. It is impossible with any power except one beyond human means. In other words, it is impossible to achieve success without help from Above—this idea must get imprinted in the group.

A person is not able to hold on to this idea. It is a mistake to think that he can manage to remember it, even by writing it down somewhere…. I see that many people are writing down things during the lesson (I did the same when I was studying). They think that paper is their soul, and they are recording on it. But this will not help at all.

But when I want to record this knowledge in the group through mutual guarantee, I will really be able to make it my memory. Everything that exists in the group is my memory, and I can be sure that nothing will be erased from there and I will be able to use it.

I personally can keep forgetting everything, but my friends will keep reminding me about this knowledge: that I can only succeed through the power of the Creator, and not my own. And the power of the Creator exists inside the group.

And then I will be able to “be courageous,” like I need to be—if I manage to connect all of us together, find the upper force inside of us, and obligate it to help us. As it is written: “My sons have defeated me.” This is the Creator’s condition who is waiting for us to turn to Him, to appeal to Him.

The Creator becomes revealed under the condition that the appeal comes from the group. This is why we call the group a vessel for the revelation of the Creator.
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From the Arvut Convention Lesson 2, 11/18/11

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We start from the shattering. Without it we would be just like the inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels of nature that act by obeying the one force that motivate and operate them from within. But because of the shattering, spiritual attributes have penetrated the desire to receive for oneself in their opposite form.

All of creation advances under the direct influence of the Light, but man advances under its opposite influence. All this is so that he will be able to understand that he needs to adapt to the force that motivates him by himself.

The more he advances, the more he feels the pressure upon him. Eventually he has to fully “format” himself, in order to get the right form. In the meantime, he gradually grows in his desire, in an opposite way from the desired form.

It takes a long time until a person finally begins to feel the pressure inside him in different directions, which molds him like raw material. If he tries to raise his sensitivity, he feels how the Creator works on him. No matter what external activities he has, there is an internal life in which he constantly tries to feel how the Creator pressures him in every direction through different feelings.

It is like a mother who is constantly by her son’s side, telling him what he should or shouldn’t do, correcting his every action. In the same way a person constantly feels internally how the Creator operates on him, as if he is some soft piece of clay in the hands of a sculptor pushing him gently, but firmly letting him feel his pressure. But he has to want this pressure.

It is somewhat difficult and unpleasant, but on the other hand, a person understands that the work that is being done on him cannot be stopped and he wants it to continue. This is the initial feeling of a person who begins to feel inside himself the actual work of the Creator on him.

We can feel this bestowal inside us because after the shattering there are different forces and different influences inside us, as a copy of the spiritual actions. These are potential actions that exist in the general soul that wanted to perform them in order to bestow. But after the shattering it all became “in order to receive,” and now it exists in us in an opposite, egoistic, form. But it is thanks to this that we can identify the Creator’s work on us.

This is why a person’s behavior becomes opposite from the Creator’s actions. There is a conflict: a resistance on the side of a person, on the side of his clay, and the pressure on the side of the Creator. Thus they beat each other and a person feels the pressure and the beating as the Creator tries to show him what is wrong with him.

Eventually he begins to justify the internal pressure and goes along with the Creator’s actions, wanting them, like a horse that obeys his rider. He feels the leadership as a revelation of love and justifies it. Thus he acquires faith and connects to the Creator. He moves to the sculptor’s side. Although he still feels sufferings, they are felt in the clay, whereas he already identifies with the intention, with the one who creates all the different forms in him.

He connects to the hands of the craftsman that creates and sculpts him. He actually wants the craftsman to affect him so, and increasingly yearns for him, until he adheres to the actions of the upper one. They adhere in the same motion, the same intention, and the suffering becomes a pleasure.

All the sufferings that the clay felt disappear and a person finds himself above it, in his intention, and sees that the clay is meaningless. He agrees with the Creator’s work on him and understands that “only good and grace shall pursue me.” He rises above his feelings and adheres to the intention of the Maker, to the attitude of the Creator, and reaches complete adhesion with Him.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/12, Writings of Rabash

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Question: Baal HaSulam writes in “The Freedom” that the method of Kabbalah is intended for the purification of Israel, and this refers to the recognition of evil. How is one connected to the other?

Answer: Do you really achieve something good by recognizing your own evil? Of course, because this has led you to purification, you have become better, more receptive; you feel more, understand more, you permeate the matter of your desire. Before it would come down to good or bad sensations, and you had no knowledge of anything else. You would simply respond to stimuli like a very primitive animal. Just like a frog’s leg automatically contracts under the influence of an electric impulse.

Now you have questions: “Why do I do this? Who does this come from? What is it for? Is it for the good or the bad?” You rise above your nature by analyzing the situation, and in some way it’s the same as coming out of your nature. Like a worm in an apple, you start making your way towards the light.

Imagine a red, juicy apple, and you’re inside of it. And an opening leading to the exterior appears. Even if you haven’t yet gone through it, you already begin to distinguish that there is light there, and it is dark here. Differentiating between them becomes your recognition of evil.

This is an enormous achievement amid the size of creation, which serves as our “apple”…..
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/5/12 “The Freedom”

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