Rabash, Shlavey HaSulam (Steps of the Ladder), Article “A Prayer of Many”: It is written in the holy Zohar (Beshalach (When Pharaoh Let) and in the Sulam Commentary, Item 11), “And she said, ‘I dwell among my own people.’ He asks, ‘What does that mean?’ He replies, ‘When Din is present in the world, one should not part from the collective and be alone because when the Din is present in the world, those who are noticed and are noted alone are caught first, even if they are righteous.

We tune into the upper force through The Zohar. We are told how to tune ourselves to comprehending this force, which leads to its perception, its revelation. “Din” is one of its manifestations in the form of justice. A transgression of one or all evokes a corresponding reciprocal action. Under no circumstances should man separate from the society around him.

How does this happen? Different actions and sensations are evoked in us. This gives me the opportunity to keep myself in the society above and in spite these difficulties and sensations, even if by separating from this society I would immediately feel comfortable and avoid problems. Everyone is getting punished, but I can step aside. They even tell me: “You can step aside, this does not concern you.”

And still, even though the righteous did not sin together with the rest, they are judged first when they separate from them. In other words, man is being tested this way on whether he wants to enter the egoism of this world and remain in his comfortable “bourgeois” state, or if he is willing to remain together with everyone in one bundle, even if  this makes him uncomfortable, for the sake of attaining the upper world.

Hence, one should never retire from the people because the mercy of the Creator is always on the whole people together. This is why she said, ‘I dwell among my own people, and I do not wish to part from them.’

The attitude of the upper force always manifests towards everyone together and never towards private individuals. “Among my people” means among those who want to come together.

We need to take this into consideration. When we are in the group, and we begin to feel different frictions, egoistic actions, we need to understand that we are being “played” on purpose. If we still were to join together regardless of these "games" (every time, every moment), we would be raised upward.

But if we were to yield and step away from the problems, refusing to solve them instead of rising above them in unity, naturally we would once again become submerged in our daily life and stop understanding what Kabbalah tells us.
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From Lesson 2 in Moscow 1/16/2011, “A Prayer of Many”

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Question: I would like to know: Where inside me does the evil inclination reside? Is it in the heart or in the ego? How can I find it in order to get rid of it?

Answer: Baal HaSulam writes that he rejoiced about the revelation of new, evil qualities inside of him because they are not new, but are concealed in a person, and it is unknown when all of our evil, not yet revealed, will be revealed in us.

Indeed, the times when the evil becomes revealed are unpleasant. A person begins to eat himself up because he does not agree to it and does not want it. This approach also needs to be corrected.

To tell you the truth, we must only be happy when the evil becomes revealed, but not as masochists. If this evil reaches the necessary measure, then a person will explode and produce such an inner outcry, such a feeling will emerge in his heart that he will receive a revelation from Above.

Then in relation to his heart, he comes out to other people and starts feeling the spiritual world, which cannot be felt inside of you, but only in the desires of other people. However, this is a good feeling. Then a person experiences every moment as a great adventure where his desires and intentions begin opening up the world to him.
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From the lecture in “Kabalah L’Am” Hall on 12/21/10

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Question: What is going on with the European Union? A month ago, a collapse seemed inevitable, but now everything looks all right?

Answer: It is indeed so, and it is going to repeat many more times. There will be an impression that a collapse is imminent, and then it will seem that everything is going to be okay. Only through such gradual, step-by-step development do we become aware that we must change.

Generally, it is necessary to understand that nature’s goal is not to annihilate us. The collapse must be internal. It has to occur in our consciousness, in our awareness of how wrongly we treat ourselves and the world. It’s not in the fact that I was hit by a hurricane, tsunami, an earthquake, a volcanic eruption, or freezing weather.

All of this is necessary solely in order to pull us out of our own swamp, elevate us, and force us to start thinking. As a matter of fact, these particularly consistent acts—a sudden blow and its retreat until the next blow hits, then another blow and retreat—gradually pull a person out of himself.

With each new step, we think it is all the same, but in fact, it is not so. Each new time, we process another type of egoism, its greater part. One blow to the ego, the second, and the third one, but we don’t feel the difference and don’t realize that each time, our egoism processes completely new degrees.

Egoism is diverse, and until it reaches its very last state, nothing will change. This is why we need to pass through so many small blows.

We experienced many of them already while descending from the world of Infinity into our world along the 125 spiritual rungs. These rungs contain billions of various actions and events that we must live through in our world. And we have to work them out during our incarnations, in these lifetimes.

There is nothing accidental; nothing can happen out of the blue, by leaping over the spiritual rungs, or by skipping spiritual states. We have to swallow every pill, which is the only way to learn. There is no other option.
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From Lesson 2 Berlin Convention 1/28/2011

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We are trying to make Kabbalah closer to people and to clarify that it is a wisdom which explains our life to us and helps solve the problems concerning education, health, and everything else. But all of this is only externality.

Actually, Kabbalah speaks solely about the spiritual world and stops at the level of Bina de-Malchut de Malchut of the world of Assiya. Between this Bina and our state of existence in this world, Malchut de-Malchut de-Malchut of the world of Assiya, there is a gap.

We cannot step across this abyss, make it narrower, or fill it in with something. Until you leap above this gap, Kabbalah will always seem an abstract science to you, a philosophy or mysticism, meaning something unreal. After all, you perceive as real only that which you can see and hold in your hands right now. And what can we give you if we don’t sell red strings and “holy water”?

This gap between our state today and the closest Bina is overcome only by intense work within one’s own matter: an egoistic will to receive. I try to accomplish this with the help of environment, albeit also egoistic so far, and the studies that are for my own sake. Like a little child, I make efforts to grow and rise above myself as much as I can.

Kabbalah will never be able to garb itself directly in the matter of our corporeal world; you will always have to keep leaping up with it! You won’t be able to fix this very last AHP (the lowest part of the upper spiritual object, Partzuf) since you don’t have Galgalta ve Eynaim (GE, the upper part of the spiritual object) that you could use to clothe the AHP with.

This is the structure of all the worlds, the entire spiritual ladder; GE of the lower Partzuf is clothed into AHP of the upper Partzuf and as a result can receive from it. Although it is completely dark in the upper’s AHP, I am willing to accept this darkness with my GE and comply with it, in order to hold on to the upper one. I am prepared to choose this dark over the light that I have in my GE at present.

But I don’t have the GE for this very last AHP between Bina and Malchut de-Malchut de-Malchut de-Assiya! In fact, I reside below this AHP with my egoism; I don’t have anything I could clothe into the upper one with. There is nothing I can do. Hence, Kabbalah remains an abstract knowledge for me so far.

Spirituality ends in the last Bina, (at this red mark  in the diagram). The upper one’s AHP is total darkness for me. But if I bring into this interval “the group, the book, and the teacher” and start working with them, then I have an opportunity to connect to this Bina.

In fact, this doesn’t mean that the group itself has to be in spirituality. But these instruments (the group, Kabbalistic texts, and the teacher) are endowed with such miraculous property (Segula) that if I imagine them to be above me and wish to partake in them by lowering my ego before them, then I extract from them a spiritual component. Through them, the Light descends on me from GE of the upper one.

I, on my part, contribute desire (an egoistic one!). In response, the Light comes to me, and we meet in this area regarded as “the teacher, the books, and the group.” It is a qualitative definition rather than corporeal people and books: the very place where I reveal the AHP of the upper one, the spiritual world.

Therefore, I must keep visualizing that they are exalted and great, and that the Creator lives within them. Only in such form can I envision the upper’s AHP, a higher spiritual degree, and cling to it. Since I don’t have the GE, there is no other chance to do so.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/26/2011, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Question: If we are egoists, it means that any desire to bestow is an illusion, doesn’t it?

Answer: It’s a total illusion, an absolute lie. If I think about someone, I think about myself, adding to it a pseudo-connection with another person. In truth, it doesn’t exist; there is nobody else. All my perceptions and impressions remain in my desire, and this is the only premise upon which I can make a calculation.

Question: Why, then, do we sit here and hope that we will wish to bestow? How could such a desire emerge in us?

Answer: This occurs because our desire is able to experience itself as such deep within, while on the outside, it can feel as if it isn’t itself, but somebody else. Nothing was broken but the thought, the intention, the idea that we are all fragmented and disconnected. Desire itself cannot break; it was the intention that broke, the awareness of oneness.

Therefore, we fall into the illusion that the one desire created by the Creator is split, fractured, and broken into multiple pieces. This illusion appears within the desire itself.

We have internal Kelim (vessels, desires), the “root,” “soul,” “body,” in which I experience my “self.” In addition, I have external Kelim, a “garment” and a “chamber,” which I perceive as not my “self.” If I tear my clothes, I won’t scream with pain. I don’t feel the surroundings, despite the fact that it is my desire as well. Simply such peculiarities, the lack of sensitivity, appeared in it.

Imagine, if you will, that you could feel all the Kelim in their authentic form. Then, all of reality would be your own “flesh” for you. More than that, somebody would scratch a wall with a nail, and you would scream with pain.

Our difficulty is the lack of intention. The intention became corrupted, and now we don’t see the desires of “others” as relevant to us. It all depends on what is revealed to a person. Our sole job is to integrate desires within. While they remain unchanged, it is the intention that matters: whether it is to receive or to bestow.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/26/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: You are saying that our desire to give is make-believe.

Answer: Of course, it’s make-believe now. Why would I want something so “otherworldly?” What would I get in return?

For instance, being hungry myself, would I be able to feel another person’s hunger? No, I wouldn’t if such a calculation is not “in sync” with my Kelim (vessels). A person always acts based on desire. How can I want something beyond the reach of my desire? It’s impossible; it’s not instilled in nature.

A tree is a tree, a stone is a stone, and a desire is a desire. The mind is next to it, assisting it to be filled with the desired. There’s nothing else.

Ultimately, we are talking about the very simple “building blocks” of the universe which operate on a binary principle: yes or no. There is no multiplicity nor complication. All that is complex is a sum of these binary components that represent existence or absence. There is no in-between, only total darkness or total light. Then, the very same binary elements generate and build a whole system of nuanced relationships between them.

So, if I want something, I am thinking only about what I want. If I really want something specific, such as a carrot, it means I don’t feel any lack for a banana. The banana doesn’t exist for me at that moment; I am fixated on what I want. This can be seen clearly with children. Computer memory-elements function according to the same principle as do our neurons: yes or no, a “click” or its absence.

Therefore, it simply can’t be that being a receiving desire, I would feel in it a desire to give. I neither understand nor feel what others want. I can feel inside of me only a form called “the other,” but it manifests itself inside my desire.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/26/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: How can a person tell that he is acting from the point in the heart, rather than avoiding the suffering of the outside world?

Answer: Does a person act in the group based on the point in the heart rather than his or her egoism? Does he direct himself toward a group instead of the outside world? He does if he puts the desires, goals, means, and efforts of his friends above his own.

What if the friends are wrong? They are always right. Actually, even if they are wrong, what difference does it make to me? What’s most important is that I am part of them. That’s the only choice I’ve got.

Suppose all of them are against my opinion. I’m one hundred percent right, but they are united as one. It means I have to annul myself and go along with them. However, they are wrong, aren’t they? It does not matter. In the spiritual world, the collective, the connection, always prevails.

Approximately two and a half thousand years ago there lived a great sage, Rabbi Yossi ben Kisma. He had, let’s say, a dozen students. Once, he was asked to move to another place, but he replied, “I can’t leave them because then I will lose everything there is within me.” This was despite the fact that he was a great sage of that generation. Who were they compared to him? “They are nobodies,” he said, “but when they are together, I connect to them and receive everything through them. On my own, directly, I cannot receive anything.”

After all, the receiving vessel, the detector, the locator, is the group. Let the group consist of nobodies, beginners; it doesn’t matter whom. If they unite with one another, that’s it; it’s enough. A sage who connects to them adds sensitivity to them and, thus, perceives everything.

On their own, they don’t understand or sense a thing. They’ve just huddled together like calves. However, having united with them, he receives the Light that he wouldn’t have received without them. By gradually conducting their unity through him, they, too, begin to grow. That is what is happening in the world. Therefore, only unity brings the right result.

There are a lot of “smart” people in the group, really clever, serious, very intelligent individualists, and their achievements are worth nothing! When I consider the result that we have to achieve as a group, I know for certain: Even if a person is smart, generates great ideas, performs any assignment brilliantly, and achieves amazing results, all that eventually leads nowhere. If he lacks spiritual direction, he won’t grow as a result of his or her efforts, although on the outside, everything may seem perfect.

All things spiritual are achieved only through unity. If beginners gather together, even though they may be small, by uniting, they achieve greater results than individuals who are great, wise, and perhaps Kabbalists already. Rabbi Yossi wouldn’t have achieved anything without his group. That’s why he didn’t leave it.
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From Lesson 2 in Moscow 1/16/2011, “A Prayer of Many”

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Question: Is it necessary for us to get married?

Answer: On one hand, it is unnecessary to get married. On the other, we must understand that our world is created in similarity to the upper world.

Today, humanity is going through the process of the breaking of family units. In the near five to ten years, we will see that people will not be able to find one another whatsoever. Why get married? What is it all for? People do not feel the need for it. The very foundation of society has disappeared. We see the world changing so much that it seems to have come to its end.

Does a person need to be married to advance in the spiritual world? No, he does not. There is no need for this. However, to take on a greater similarity to the spiritual image, one needs to have a family, children, work, and live a so-called normal life which existed throughout the entire history. But this condition is not essential. This is why, today, Kabbalists do not insist on it.

It is more necessary for men than for women because men must have resistance. However, women, unlike men, do not need to resist; they do not need to overcome their egoism. A woman does work in the group, helps out, studies, and edits materials, and in this way she corrects herself through her desire to help and participate. She correctly includes herself in the common desire, the common Kli (vessel). It is not necessary for her to be married.

On the other hand, in order for a man to attain the spiritual world, he must make a lot of effort which is not comparable to the effort required of a woman. This is why he must get married, take care of his family, and work with friends. His spiritual work is special, difficult, and real.

It is not the same with a woman. It is enough for a woman to help out, participate, and be connected to a group. This way, she completely fulfills her role. It is not harder or easier. These simply are different methods of correction, different types of souls.

Previously in our world, a wife did not have to take care of earning money. A woman is made in a way to take care of the home. The wife is everything that concerns the home and the family, and the husband is everything that concerns earning and not the home.

This is the way things need to be in accordance with the upper roots, the relationship of Malchut and Zeir Anpin in the world of Atzilut. Essentially, our family unit needs to be organized the same way in this world as well. However, we already see the forms it has taken on in the current stage of development. There is nothing we can do; it is a mutation.
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From Lesson 2 in Moscow 1/16/2011, “A Prayer of Many”

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Question: Why do we need to work on ourselves specifically in a group? Why can we not work on ourselves through interaction with the external world?

Answer: First of all, we need to work among ourselves in a group instead of the external world because Kabbalists recommend it. Why do they recommend this specifically? It is because together, we need to create a common desire which will have similar properties to the properties of the Creator, and then we will be able to reveal Him.

If I were to come up to a person on the street and tell him, “Let’s love one another,” he might think that I am gay. In reality, the property of love is the Creator’s property. It is His main property that is revealed before us. I need to attain this property one way or another. How do I do this? Only by being with people who understand me.

So, this means that we must unite our desires and feel one another as if we all were together, one whole. The common universal egoism is pushing us toward this.

Globalization, the interconnection that is becoming revealed, and the blows of nature, all moves us in one direction and forces us to become closer to “huddle up” like little animals who have nowhere to hide. All the miseries that are about to befall us will force us to become closer. It’s for us to become closer on the inside, instead of simply crowding up in one territory.

Nature will work systematically; it will hit in one place. This is why we need to “huddle up” with the people who understand us, and together create a common desire. As soon as we create it, this will be the group turning into one heart, one desire. Then, to the extent of our unification, we will feel the Creator: the manifestation of the Light of Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, and Yechida between us.

All the souls together are included among them into the entire world, but being a part of them, we have already united and passed this entire Light through us. Now, it gradually flows over to the other souls, and they also begin to awaken. They suddenly begin to feel that we have a special kind of fulfillment. And people will feel drawn to us. We will see them join.

But in order for this to happen, you first need to carry out a special condition so that there would be Light in you. This is why you cannot work with other people who do not have any of this. This flows out of the condition of correction of the worlds, and Kabbalah prescribes this. Why? It’s because this is the law of nature.

We need to begin with the uncorrected desires that are closest to the Light. By correcting them, we can use them to descend to a level below, desires that are less corrected. As we correct them, we descend into the even less corrected desires. We constantly go from easier work to harder work. This is the same way we also develop in our lives. We gradually solve all the problems from simple to complicated. This is a natural law of nature.
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From Lesson 2 in Moscow 1/16/2011, “A Prayer of Many”

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We think that each of us has their own issues and their own problems. “I wish to reach spirituality and I don’t care for the rest of the world. Sometimes I think about them, but essentially, what does it matter? Where’s the world and where am I?”

Obviously, it is a normal egoistic response. But what can one do? We have only one choice: Think really hard about how we are connected with one another. Kabbalah states that all humans are interconnected. We already feel it, and today we are more or less aware of it.

Alas, there aren’t any results from it yet. It’s evident that governments and individuals alike, no matter how smart, still can’t change and continue to live inside their personal, egoistic shells. But the problem is actually global and can be resolved only if we get connected.

The wisdom of Kabbalah says that all of us are separate individuals tied together by various types of connections. It is an enormous, heavy, very intricate, and very multifaceted system comprised of seven billion interconnected parts.

In this system, I can feel my “self” within myself, and then I sense our world. Or, I can feel what is outside of me: the other parts and the ties between me and all the others. In that case, I will perceive the upper world outside of me.

It is regarded as upper because I am governed by what is supplied to me from everybody else. Everything that occurs in me does so because ties from all seven billion parts run to me.

Then how do we solve the current problem that Nature forces onto us? It looks like we have to find a benevolent connection between us because it is the integral system that sends us all these troubling signals.It requires that we transcend ourselves and start feeling the surrounding space. Outside of me, there is the world of Infinity. Thus, we must all step outside and experience the field that lives between us. No one can feel it inside oneself.
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From Lesson 2 Berlin Convention 1/28/2011

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