Question: At this past convention I felt the flavor of our unity in its fullness for the first time. But this also raises the question of the mythical Machsom.

Answer: The point we have achieved is situated at the Machsom, at the transition to the next state—the ascent to the degree that we ought to achieve at the upcoming convention in New York.

Why am I accentuating a convention? In essence, it doesn’t matter when it happens, but a convention is nonetheless an impact point of sorts, when we truly unite together and are capable of achieving this.

Then this point will grow into something whole and new, into the sensation of a new world, small at first. But it will already be the first awakening in it, the sensation of being within something still subconscious and unattainable. And yet we will already feel ourselves in this new dimension and be able to determine our position and find our bearings in it. I hope that we will achieve this. Everything depends on our preparation.
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From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 12/11/2011

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Question: How do I combine two states when in one of them, I must ask for help for my friends to unite and in the other, be small in relation to the group?

Answer: A person must simultaneously seem to be in two states. On one hand, I think that I am big, and the salvation of my friends depends on me. On the other, I think that I am small, and I completely depend on them. These two states should not mutually eliminate one another. Spirituality is always built on two states, but we have a problem with this.

As a matter of fact only one force, the force of reception, operates in our world. This is why we are unable to feel the upper world that was created out of two forces, the combination of the right and the left lines. And we add the middle line that consists of the force of reception and the force of bestowal. The balance between them creates the inner fulfillment in the point of our unity.

In the end, all our constant efforts to exist between these two forces—in the contradiction of I, the Creator, and the group, all of us together or separately—have to combine and connect into a system within me where I will revolve freely between them.

Everything in our world is built on the interaction of two forces, expansion and constriction, plus and minus. The problem is that these two forces pertain to egoistic reception. We must begin to form a completely different structure within us, a structure where the force of reception and the force of bestowal really will be opposite. We create the structure of the soul namely by rising above this contradiction.

So, you do not need to worry about having to cancel one of these two forces out. Instead, you need to live in the contradiction, trying to be in absolute unity with others despite the presence of a variety of problems.
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From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 12/11/2011

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Our next goal is the convention in the U.S. We need to put all our efforts into organizing it on a high level to really be able to rise to the next degree, enter a new state, where we will begin to feel the movement of the Light of Nefesh inside the point of unity. It is the smallest spiritual Light, but one that allows us to feel an independent movement.

This will appear due to our hard work over the course of the five months leading to the U.S. convention, despite the growing egoism and all the obstacles and problems sent by the Creator from Above. He does it specifically so that we would hold onto this point like a drowning man holds on to a buoy.

When I perform these actions, I have to think that I do them for the sake of saving my friends, not for my own sake. I have to be constantly concerned about making sure that they do not drown. This is why I must hold on to this point. And they must think about saving others, and then every one of us will enter the power of mutual guarantee. We will fear nothing, and we will be saved.

This force of mutual guarantee is called Noah’s Ark. It will help us rise above the entire drowning world. Then, we will try to save this world: We will give it a place inside our ark, inside our point, which will extend and expand. In it, we will discover that we already exist on a spiritual degree.

This is our objective before the next convention. We must exist in the future, not in the past, and constantly expand the point of unity by our care for everyone.
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From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 12/11/2011

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The convention is over. We have achieved great success during this convention because for the first time, we experienced a completely new state for us: our first spiritual state. This is the sensation of the common, single newborn desire that exists above us and maintains us there. When we connect to it, we rise above our body, above our world.

This desire is still a point. We are not able yet to perceive the upper world in it. Like a drop of semen, it still needs to develop into a Partzuf, a spiritual body, our common soul.

Baal HaSulam writes in the article “600,000 Souls” that there is only one soul in the universe, divided into six hundred thousand parts. Our objective is to put these pieces together. When we connect them above our egoism, despite our egoism, we begin to perceive that the space in this point expands, and in it, we sense the upper world.

We have revealed this point. It is as if we have found it, felt it, and we now understand approximately where it is, how to rise above ourselves, how to connect to it, how to start perceiving it, and try to live in it.

This sensation will escape us to the point that we will think that we have completely lost it, but it does not disappear anywhere because nothing disappears in spirituality. We will be able to reconnect with this point through mutual group efforts and even through the power of the recordings from the convention, just by turning them on.

Our common point of contact that exists outside of us has been born. We will use it to develop our common Kli. This is the next stage of our development.
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From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 12/11/2011

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A person is not able to observe the entire 613 commandments on his own. This is because he lacks connection with others, and he must achieve mutual inclusion, absorb their desires, and pass his desires on to them.

Every one of us has his own root of the soul, and everyone becomes included equally in everyone else only when connecting between us and absorbing mutual desires. This is the only way for any person to achieve perfection.

Initially, everyone only had a point of the root of his soul in the world of Infinity. Even though he existed there in a perfect state, this perfection was achieved through the upper Light. The person, himself, meaning everyone’s individual point, was different from the rest. For example, one person pertained to the leg of this common spiritual body, another pertained to the ear, and the third to the hip.

However, after the collective soul broke, all its pieces intermixed and become mutually included in one another. As a result, everyone contains all the others within him. In this way, each receives everything he was lacking in accordance with the root of his soul from the others. The lowest one receives everything from the highest ones, the highest one receives everything from the lowest one; the right receives from the left, and the left receives from the right. In the end, everyone becomes like a pomegranate that contains all the seeds (desires).

In this way, we not only achieve the common perfection, but also the private perfection of every soul. For example, even though a woman is free from observing commandments that pertain to a specific time (such as tzitzit or tefillin), by being included in the others, she makes up for whatever is lacking.

Mutual inclusion also works in relation to the first nine Sefirot and Malchut because the breaking was final to the last, tiniest element in the common structure of Malchut. However, because everyone who strives “straight to the Creator” (Yashar–El) are guarantors to one another, it is as if they observe all the commandments together.

I include myself in the others and thus observe a certain commandment. Meanwhile, someone else observes it as his main job. In this way, we all work together. Everyone absorbs the desires of others and bestows to his neighbor. This results in everyone understanding everyone and bestowing to everyone. In the end, we reach the state of loving the other as oneself.

Being separate and egoistic, I only cared for myself, and now, by connecting with others, I achieve knowledge, attainment, and the understanding of all the demands, desires, and thoughts of all the other parts of creation. This is why I am able to give them fulfillment.

In this way, I become similar to the Creator and acquire love for Him. I have come to loving the Creator through loving my neighbor.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/15/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: You said once in a lesson that a person needs free choice only when he isn’t sure. Will we have free choice after the end of correction?

Answer: The more we advance towards the Creator, the less we agree with Him, and still we find the internal power to agree each time. When I enter Infinity, I discover that there is no one worse than the Creator.

I don’t agree with Him on anything. I hate Him more than anything. But at the same time I also have the power to rise above this feeling and to feel the opposite: that there is no one higher, more perfect, stronger, and more certain than Him. And so I have to choose: Which way to go? Meanwhile, there is nowhere to go. This is what Infinity is.

In general, we should understand that no matter how high a person rises, the evil inclination is still greater than him. We actually discover creation as “existence from absence,” in contrast to “existence from existence.”
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Question: Can you draw an analogy between the modern stage of development of the world and spiritual development?

Answer: Of course. We go together with all of humanity like Galgalta ve Eynaim with AHP. We are the one percent, and they are the ninety-nine percent. If not for the needs of humanity, we would not have awakened from the corporeal dream. Just as in the past generations, the world today would have had only several Kabbalists.

So, why are there hundreds of thousands, millions, of us today? It is because the world needs us. Everyone who studies and disseminates Kabbalah will become a full-time teacher. I am sure that in the next few years, the world will need the presence of such people in the educational systems and in the areas of culture and politics, everywhere. Everyone will need the special, integrated approach that only we have. It will become necessary for all areas of life, not to mention inner development.

Our path and the path of mankind are naturally interconnected. Today, the need for correction is already ripening in an enormous number of people. Naturally, the process is gradual because the world consists of many parts and layers. The differences are enormous. China, America, Europe, and Africa are different in their mentalities, size, and the nature of their egoism. Overall, all the people represent a pyramid of humanity.

Undoubtedly, one way or another, we have received the right to advance in the direction of freedom and the revelation of the upper force only with one goal: We will have to pass what we will receive to the others. However, we will need to pass it in a suitable form.

In this regard, we are like Bina. Essentially, its upper part pertains to Hochma and is in touch with the Creator, the upper Light. The bottom part is like a mother’s womb for the lower Partzuf. It guarantees its birth, nurturing, and growth. In this way, our upper part constantly aspires toward the Creator, and the bottom part constantly exists among the creatures.

We, Bnei Baruch, are in between like the middle part of Tifferet, between the Creator and the world. We only have the desire to be above with Him and below with humanity. In the middle is our freedom of choice, and in this way, we become similar to the Creator.

After all, the Creator is the maker; He produces, constructs, and fulfills like a mother. We call nature “mother” because it begets, nurtures, and protects us. We must play the same role toward the world. Exerting this attitude full of bestowal, we become like the Creator.

The common Partzuf is divided into five degrees of Aviut (coarseness). The second degree is the most important. It copies Keter, follows the example of the zero degree, and continues it further down. This is our objective. In this way, we unite with the Creator.

The Second Restriction is related to this. As we rise toward Bina, Malchut helps us begin to watch over the world from the new degree.

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Question: How can I exactly recognize the point of my free choice?

Answer: First of all, we discover that we are absolutely, one-hundred percent not free. This is the realization of evil.

However, on the other hand, what is so bad about that? If I am entirely under the power of the Creator, or Nature, then there is nothing to ask of me. I am neither good nor bad. What is there to demand of me? No matter what I do, it is not me doing it, as it is written: “Go to the craftsman who made me.”

Religion is based on this. I am a small person. I do everything that He wants. If He says do, I do. In this way, all my charges are removed, any questions are canceled, and I rid myself of problems.

However, on this path, you lose independence and freedom. Just by following the Creator’s decrees, even if unwillingly, you will always find a reward for yourself and ease your task—at the cost of your real “I.” This is why religion is good for the masses. When everything comes from Above, it adds a feeling of comfort to life and provides psychological support to flow together with everyone.

On the other hand, in Kabbalah, I demand independence, instead of self-cancellation. I want to find the beginning of my “I.” In this search, in this rational and logical evaluation, I discover that in reality, I do not exist. I did not make the decision about being born in this world, I did not chose my qualities, my genetics, my parents, my country, or my environment. I was reared and educated by already formed systems and institutions such as kindergarten, school, mass media, and so forth. Who am I after all this? I am a piece of dough baked in a common oven into a regular loaf of bread.

When I see this, a question arises in me: Is this what life is? What does it give me besides never-ending concerns, a constant flight from suffering, and brief moments of pleasure? This is the realization of evil: I begin to think about the essence of what is happening, about my journey and its end, and I understand that I do not exist. There is only a machine that I neither launch nor control. When there is an algorithm conflict in the computer, it gives an error message. I too respond to problems, albeit in a sensory way. The pressure jumps somewhere, and I feel pain. That’s all it is to it.

In this case, I simply have no reason to live. Many people come to this conclusion. The only thing that holds them back is an instinctive fear of death, and even that does not always work.

This is where I begin the search for true freedom, my true essence. The path to it lies through becoming like the Creator, not in worshiping and canceling yourself before Him, but actually becoming like Him. I must grow and become more like Him. Absolute independence and freedom is inherent of the Creator. There is none else besides Him in all of nature. I can grow according to the same principle when there is no one else besides me in all of nature.

This is the Kabbalistic method. We search for freedom and independence. The most painful thing is the fact that I do not exist. Where can I find my “I?”  This pursuit of my own “I” is my entire life. I want greater self-expression. I want to rule over everyone and receive. What is all this for? It is for my “I” to form and grow. Here, Kabbalah explains that to acquire your “I” means to acquire the qualities of the Creator, in other words, to acquire freedom.

Question: So how can I find my “I” without free will?

Answer: The initial point of my “I” manifests itself through questions about the meaning and essence of life. A person who comes to Kabbalah already has this point of choice, a point in the heart, a spark, the other side of the middle line, the reverse side of freedom, the feeling of emptiness and lack.

I have no freedom, and this is why I ask questions about the meaning of life. This is exactly what I lack. I do not care about life itself; I need to find my “I.”
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/13/2011, “The Freedom”

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Question: While we go through different forms all the time, how can we keep aspiring to the same unity with the group and the Creator?

Answer: A descent between two adjacent levels gives me a new force of aspiration. For example, yesterday I ate, but today I am hungry again. In the same natural way, I must aspire to unity.

While standing on my current level, I dream of the next one. It is the ideal for me. Then I grow and rise to my ideal. So how can I keep moving on now? I need a desire that corresponds to the new ascent —a desire that is twice as big as the previous one. In other words, in order to ascend one level higher, I have to lose twice as much.

It turns out that I continuously take two steps back and one large step forward. That is because it isn’t enough for me to return with a desire to the previous level; I need to feel a double descent, a double loss. I can acquire this new necessity only from the environment, and only then will I be able to rise to the next level.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/15/11, “The Freedom”

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The purpose of creation is to add independence, attainment, and sensation to the desire created “from absence.” And even though it was created “from absence” and has “nothing” of its own, it will acquire qualities that will help it become like the Creator: independent, understanding, deciding, and executing its own decisions.

This is the difference between the initial desire created in Malchut of the world of Infinity and that which it becomes after making a restriction and completing the entire journey: from above down to this world and from this world back up, with all the breakings and processes of development whereby it returns to the previous state.

All these processes take place inside the creature to give it the opportunity to expand its vessel of reception. The development is necessary to understand one’s evil, egoism, and to raise one’s sensitivity to it. Evil is everything opposite to the Creator.

Special conditions are needed to acquire these qualities. The very first condition is that the creature must not feel like it acts by force, under the power of the Creator, but is free. And this is why the Creator has to conceal Himself.

We only receive the starting, zero point, and starting with it, we have to reach the goal of creation, the final point created “from absence” but expanded by virtue of the intention to bestow, added above the desire to enjoy. But how can we advance when the Creator is concealed and we do not see the goal, if we lack an example, a countdown system, a foundation, and landmarks along the way, which we could use to build and evaluate ourselves?

A person who receives this desire but does not yet know how to apply and realize it is referred to as “wandering in the field.” Really, an entire field of opportunities, “blessed by the Creator,” has opened up before him. The Creator gives him all the means and opportunities to advance,  to use them correctly.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/14/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Happiness From The Point In The Heart
Concealment Makes Us Human

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