Kabbalah Insights – Clothing
Posted on May 4th, 2011
Question: How do the horrors of the Holocaust combine with the principle of “There is none else besides Him” and “He is good that does good”?
Answer: There is none else besides the Creator; He is consistently good and does good, while we are opposite to Him. And hence, not reforming ourselves, we provoke the development and strengthening of the negative forces. In the world, only we possess free will. In reality, there is a balance of forces. However, in the process of exploring them, man tends to bring into the picture his own resentments, pains, and impressions, as well as worries and fears, along with the burden of his personal history.
When we approach something with our own instruments, we should study natural phenomena rather than the subjective factors that make us laugh or cry. As a true scientist, I research the forces of nature that in our world generated a form called Nazism. Who could have prevented it? Why did everything occur as it did?
This is what the research shows: A force that is good and does good acts upon us from Above, and there is nothing else besides it. The upper Light remains at absolute rest; it is invariable, and its laws are indisputable. One could provide many citations, and all of them prove but one thing: The Creator’s force and the program of creation don’t change because of our cries. They are constant and are moved by the engine that drives us to the end of correction.
The more we correspond to this process, the better our condition is. The less aligned to it we are, the more misfortunes befall us and we feel worse. Everything depends on our choice.
Essentially, the blows we receive assist our correction, but thereby we advance by the path of hardships and pain, which will bring us to the destination at a designated time. If, however, we study the system and seek an opportunity to adapt to it, we can advance along with the system, in accordance with it. Thereby, instead of being hit, we can evolve by taking a pleasant path of hastening time.
One way or the other, everything depends on us, on how we integrate ourselves into the mechanism that advances us and the whole humanity forward. Moreover, we are the only ones who can do it, unlike all other nations. Before anything else, Israel must become a model of a new, integral, global humanity, of “altruistic communism,” as Baal HaSulam defined it.
Having prepared ourselves for it, we will justify our existence. We have been chosen only for this. Only through a small group can the method of correction be brought into the world.
Therefore, there is no other option: We will either accomplish what we are supposed to, and then the entire world will be well, or, God forbid, we will choose the unpleasant path as it previously happened in history. There is no use in sitting and crying; we have to examine and evaluate all the factors and be very serious about it. This is what characterizes sensible and wise people, unlike little children who can only cry, which is exactly what the nation is doing so far.
[42026]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/2011 on Holocaust Memorial Day
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Question: How can we switch from the state of a “sinner” who is unable to justify the Creator to the state of a “righteous man”?
Answer: To feel as a “sinner” is a very good, beneficial, and unavoidable state. While egoism is waking up in you, you are “under the protection of the Torah,” meaning that you have something to lean on: You have the Light that helps you understand that you are experiencing a downfall and descent.
You fall because you haven’t corrected your new desire yet, which is unfolding in you now. Hence, you see yourself as a “sinner.” A “sinner” is a spiritual degree, and a very honorable one. This means that I have reached a state when the Creator realizes that He can load me with an even heavier burden and I will be able to correct it! He seems to be inviting and assigning me a more meaningful, additional job.
But I haven’t corrected this additional load yet; I cannot aim myself at bestowal regarding it yet, so in this state I consider myself a sinner so far. But I don’t blame myself for it; I justify the Creator, thank Him, and rejoice in the opportunity being revealed to me right now.
This is radically different from how ordinary people interpret the word “sinner.” It is a very respectable state. The commander singled me out of the entire company and said: “Only you are capable of carrying out this task!” In other words, I am granted additional burdening of the heart, and I take it on a new combat mission. But for now, I am a wicked man, until I complete it and become righteous.
Pharaoh understood he was a sinner and the Creator was the righteous one. In other words, every state along the spiritual ladder is spiritual. The wicked are exalted degrees preceding the righteous. And so these states come in turns: One time you are a sinner, another a righteous man, and once more, a sinner and a righteous one, over and over again. It’s as though I am walking on both legs: One leg is that of a sinner, and the other of a righteous man.
[42002]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/2011, Shamati No. 6
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Question: Is it so that a woman can attune herself to the Creator only through the men’s group?
Answer: Absolutely not! A woman also must personally attune herself to the Creator! This movement through the men’s group is necessary only to bring us all onto this degree. But tuning to the Creator is still an individual process.
How can a woman not be connected with the Creator?! We are moving ahead together: Men cannot advance without the women’s desire, while women cannot advance toward the Creator without the men’s effort. All of this must go together, just as together, we bear children.
Movement is birth at each new stage, when we beget the next state. A woman cannot be a sole parent and neither can a man. They must be together to create a family and take care of the common family circle, after which they produce new states.
But both men and women have a personal relationship with the Creator, while movement can only occur in the group. I attune myself to the Creator individually. But how do I receive fulfillment? I get it through the group.
The impact of the environment both on the men and the women is crucial. And a woman cannot advance if she doesn’t receive the influence of the environment, albeit that of the men’s rather than the women’s.
[41978]
From the Virtual Lesson in Russian, Fundamentals of Kabbalah 4/21/2011
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Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article 34 “The Profit of a Land”: Every form points to another [opposite spiritual] form. Thus, all the descents where one feels that he has come to separation [from the others and within them, from unification with the Creator] are an opportunity to discern between something and its opposite.
In other words, one should learn the benefits of the ascents from the descents. Otherwise, one would be unable to appreciate the importance of being brought near from Above, and the ascents that he is given…[as it is said:] “As far as Light excelleth darkness.”
After all, only from separation can we appreciate unity between us and esteem the attainment of our unity as the attainment of the Creator, of the upper force. We have to try to give the correct definitions: Separation between us is a descent, while unity between us is an ascent. Separation, meaning a state of descent should bring us the sensation of the absence of Light, whereas an ascent should be felt as the presence of the upper Light, the Light of bestowal and love.
We have to correctly interpret the spiritual properties, the spiritual definitions. Then we will gradually get used to them and will begin to see the upper spiritual value in the words so hateful for us today: “unity,” “love,” and “adhesion.”
Only then can one assess and regard the matter of adhesion, by which the delight and pleasure in the Thought of Creation can be acquired, being “His desire to do good to His creations.”
[41832]
From Lesson 8, WE! Convention 4/3/2011
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When a person already understands that he has to ask the Light to make the changes, the entire difficulty lies in imagining what changes to ask for. That is why he is led through various states in order to understand what “his own good” means according to his egoistic desire, for the sake of a pleasant mood and fulfillment.
But precisely above all of these calculations, he has to desire to act in the opposite way, preferring for egoism to suffer for the sake of rising above it, and there to build a relationship with the Light, the Creator, “for the sake of bestowal.” All the situations he had to go through were necessary in order to help him establish this relationship with the Light. Then he understands that even though everything comes from the Light and the desire does not awaken, does not change, and overall does not exist without its influence and support, still the desire has an ability to awaken the Light. This action is called “awakening from below.”
It is possible only on the condition that the desire precisely understands itself and its entire egoistic nature. It has to ask for its opposite transformation so the Light would give it a new force, enabling him to rise above himself, to step on his own desire, to squash it and freeze it, and to build the act of bestowal above it. If we will be able to ask for this, this will be called “an awakening from below.
When we receive an addition from the Light, called “awakening from below’ (Itaruta de Leila), then according to our request the Light will give us the ability to rise above our ego and act contrary to our egoistic desire. That is how a person begins building his spiritual vessel (Kli).
A new desire is continually awakened in him, burning within and not letting him rest, demanding to be fulfilled egoistically on account of the neighbor. Nevertheless, he begins to recognize the true attitude to his desire, that he has to lock it up and not let it break through in order to build a screen and the intention for the sake of bestowal above it, enabling him to use the same desire in the opposite form.
When he sees that he is completely incapable of this and only the Creator can help him, he reaches a request called “an awakening from below, “ a MAN. And if he asks correctly then he receives an answer from above—a MAD, and then he unites in a mutual action with the Light.
From then on a person already has experience in building a relationships between himself and the Creator.
[42113]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/3/11, Shamati
Question: Are we supposed to start our correction with the animate degree, meaning to reduce our consumption to only the level of necessity?
Answer: No, we shouldn’t. The issue is not about merely reducing the exploitation of nature. Besides, we really don’t know how to limit ourselves.
It must occur naturally, on its own. If my head is “in the clouds,” in spiritual aspiration, I instinctively consume only as much as I need to sustain myself. It is absolutely not necessary to issue a minimal ration card and an inflatable mattress to everybody. This isn’t what we are talking about.
We work in a reciprocal manner on the interconnection between us in order to build an integral system similar to nature on all of its levels. The speaking level is given to us so that we will arrange this system ourselves. And if we are building it, we will surely have the right attitude toward all natural wealth, using our resources as this exalted necessity dictates.
Austerity, “the green movement,” or a vegetarian life style, none of this will ever bring success. On the contrary, we must think solely about our internal structure, the correct connection between us at the human degree, and then all the rest of our relationships with the still, vegetative, and animate levels will come into balance.
[41895]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/1/2011, “Peace in the World”
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The Creator reaches us every time we give Him a chance. This is the secret to success. If we give the Creator such opportunities, we will be waking up quickly, at a higher frequency, and be able to come to a greater desire sooner, to a certain degree of longing and yearning regarded as “world, year, soul” (Olam, Shanah, Nefesh). That is, we will reach adhesion with the Light “in the same place, at the same time, with the same woman,” as the unification of man and the Creator is described.
After all, to reach adhesion (Zivug), we have to meet several conditions. First of all, we need the correct desire, meaning not some corporeal desire, but a need to come to similarity with the Creator, the first spiritual degree, the first connection with Him. To achieve this, I am supposed to provide the desire in the appropriate amount, quality, intensity, and form.
Besides that, I am not supposed to want anything else so that it would become my only desire, reward, and fulfillment. Nothing else is required, but desiring it. After all, the rest is the reward I am working for. All my passionate desire, longing, tension, and aspiration to keep the connection with the Creator, to hang on to this point despite all the difficulty, is, in fact, the reward.
If one comes to this state, rises above his egoistic desire, and wishes to pass all of his yearning to the Creator, to demonstrate one’s longing for Him, and doesn’t seek anything beyond this, he merits exalted adhesion.
Here, one can find help in the environment that will support, awaken, remind, and arrange all the necessary conditions for such adhesion for him; it will clarify them and raise their importance. After all, the Creator reaches a person every time the latter presents Him with such an opportunity. This is the point most important to us.
This means that the goal is to give the Creator more opportunities to wake us up by any means, no matter how. It may be that more often than not, it is through unpleasant sensations, but we are not scared by problems, fears, and longing since we don’t view them as bad states.
What is bad for us is only when we disconnect from the thought and relationship with the Creator, from longing and desire. All our other yearnings for Him we consider as desirable and important, regardless of whether we like or dislike experiencing them.
Before anything else, we value the truth rather than feeling good or bad, sweet or bitter. Thus, we gradually and correctly prepare ourselves for the first adhesion and finally come to it.
[41886]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/1/2011, Baal HaSulam’s Letter 19
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Baal HaSulam’s Letter No. 19, p. 70: “Know thou the God of thy father and serve Him.” Know means recognition because a soul that does not know is not good. This means that if a person does not know his master, even though he has a soul and yearns and longs to serve Him, it is not good.
Even though one has a soul, he is not ready to know Him, “Until the spirit be poured upon him from on high.” However, one must lend an ear and listen to the words of the sages and believe in them wholeheartedly.
It has already been written: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” The Baal Shem Tov interprets: “The Lord is thy shade.” Like the shade that follows one’s movements, its inclinations lean every way the person does, so is man according to the Creator. It means that when love for the Creator awakens, one must see that the Creator has awakened toward him with intense longing, etc.
Even if the point in the heart emerges in a person, he doesn’t know how to wake up and cannot do it on his own, alone. He is awakened by the upper Light, the Creator, while a person, from all these pleasant and unpleasant awakenings, is supposed to understand and learn how the Creator deals with him. He must learn to speak the Creator’s language to communicate with Him.
We need to come to a desire, intensity, and longing, that corresponds with what is next, meaning the first spiritual degree that exists above us or the last step of the ladder that sprawls down to us, along which our soul had descended from the world of Infinity some time ago. That was the rung where we were still linked with the Creator, and therefore, today, we are supposed to achieve the same kind of determination, intensity,and desire that connected us with Him there.
We come to this kind of yearning by using the exercises that the Creator provides for us in the time regarded as “wheels” (Ofanim). He presents us with various opportunities to become connected to Him, and we don’t know why it should be in this specific form and this kind of situation. He suddenly reminds us that He exists, and we start to feel that we are missing Him.
At this point, it is necessary to understand who caused this awakening. Did I wake up on my own, or was it the Creator who woke me up? What am I supposed to do with it? Do I give thanks for my awakening or blame Him for not calling on me and for my having nothing at all? To the extent that a person is aware of this whole process and constantly strives to receive a desire for oneness, he will come to success.
[41891]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/1/2011, Baal HaSulam’s Letter 19
Question: How will man look in his final stage of development?
Answer: As I see it, he will restrict himself in order to employ nature only as necessary and won’t feel the lack of anything, while all his yearnings will turn to the welfare of others. He will use only as much as is needed for correct corporeal existence, only to actualize his aspiration toward the well-being of others.
Meanwhile, the body will be receiving only what is good, vital, and most beneficial for it to be healthy. As to the yearning for others and contact with them, it will allow a person to reveal the integral system of total interdependence for himself. Thereby, he will attain the inner dimension of nature, its internal force, perfect and eternal.
[41902]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/1/2011, “Peace in the World”
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