Question: How can a person follow the advice of “being joyful” if he feels “the taste of waste” in his spiritual work?

Answer: This is a phase where you still do not understand the importance of waste. Yet, can anything grow without waste, manure, or fertilizer? There is nothing useless in the world; everything depends only on your attitude. We have to go through all of the states and feel each of them. In these states death seems sweeter than life, but you aren’t able to avoid them because you have to understand what the “will to enjoy” is.

I am speaking frankly, without exaggerating: Unless you experience this, you won’t be able to come out of the power of the will to enjoy, even though this also doesn’t help a great deal. This is the revelation of the “angel of death.” Without the group’s support, without a strict daily routine, and without taking on obligations, it is impossible to cope with this feeling.

The best thing you can do for yourself is to take on obligations that compel you to carry out a certain task today. It has to put pressure on you like a yoke on a bull. There is nothing worse than feeling free. Despite the fact that you do not see, feel, understand, or remember anything, you start to work because you have to, and gradually you come out of the state of descent and continue your path.

We are controlled by two forces, and the only opportunity we are given is to shift from the rule of one force to the influence of the other. Besides the rule of two forces, there is an intermediate state where you choose what influence to be under. You have to try to control these two forces from the intermediate state, the middle line, as if these are two reins that you hold in your hands.

That is why you have to stick to the daily routine: Go to the lesson, go over the lesson, sing, dance in your room when no one can see you, laugh—do anything you can to come out of a bad state! You have to disagree with and oppose the control of this force! The worst thing you can do is despair.
From the lesson on Rabash’s article on 11/7/11

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Today, we have to admit that all of us—humanity, the still, vegetative, animate nature, and the Creator—are parts of a single system. The more we correspond with this system, the better our condition will be. If, however, we don’t agree or can’t harmonize ourselves with it to the degree that matches the level of our development, in that same degree we will experience suffering, including our demise.

In fact, we exist in one integral system that becomes revealed to us more and more. The system per se is constant; however, since our egoism is evolving, we perceive its previously hidden forms. We think that it is nature which changes, while it is we who do. It is as if we are looking out the train window: It is not the platform but the train that is moving.

Until recently, we have been evolving at the levels of still, vegetative, and animate nature, and have not sensed our opposition to nature. These were my inner desires that have been developing (Shoresh, Neshama, and Guf), and everything was aimed at satisfying my egoistic needs.

But now these desires were joined by two additional types of desire that I sense as external: “garments” (Levush) and “palace” (Eichal). I have to accept them as my own internal desires, which means I have to accept that the whole world is mine, that it is I, while I only perceive it as existing outside of me.

So it follows that this entire world, the universe, all of nature, belongs to me, doesn’t it? And it is my responsibility to take care of it all, as I do for myself, isn’t it? So, I shouldn’t use it for my own benefit, but specifically in order to take care of it “as I do for myself” since all of it eventually unfolds as my integral part?

This is what we call a new global world. “Garments” and “palace” (Aviut 3 and 4 of my desires) that I viewed as external become internal in my perception and unfold as my own desires, while I, due to my egoistic nature (in my GE, Aviut 0,1,2), reject them, see them as outside of me, and therefore damage them, thereby doing harm to myself.

And when I begin attaching them to myself, I will be able to feel the upper reality in them. It’s because the reality felt in the “garments” and “palace” that become my parts will turn out to be the spiritual world. In other words, I have to attach all of nature to myself and feel within everything there is, to the very last atom! After all, the universe is the world of Infinity that will be revealed to me when I feel that everything around me is mine.

That is how I am going to perceive it. Instead of the material world that unfolds in my egoistic desires, I will start experiencing the spiritual one.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/12/2011, “The Quality of the Hidden Wisdom – in General”

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Question: What should we do if a person leaves the group? Should we try to bring him back?

Answer: If a person decided that he no longer wants to come to the group, we must respect his decision since there is no coercion in spirituality. This is first.

Second, even if a person says he doesn’t wish to continue his studies, tomorrow everything may change. So, we should have a flexible approach to this. If the group tried to bring him back several times (usually twice), but he still hasn’t returned, he should be left alone. We are not allowed to approach him any more.

In Gemarah, there is law: If a person is walking in a field and sees that another person’s donkey fell under the pressure of the load, he should help get the donkey back up and place the load on it. If this happens the second time, he should do the same: Get the donkey up and put the luggage onto it. If after the first two times the donkey fell again, the help cannot be offered again because the animal is unable to carry the load.

A donkey (“Hamor” in Hebrew) symbolizes matter (“Homer”) that we are comprised of. And its luggage is the load that this matter is able to hold. And if your friend “fell” after you have tried to bring him back twice, leave him alone. It is his choice!
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From the Introductory Lecture in North Tel Aviv 12/19/2010

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A supreme notion states that the Creator is One, Unique, and Unified. One, singular, upper force created all of creation: It existed before the creation came into being, exists along with it, and will continue to exist after the creation no longer does; that is, this force exists in all states.

We can discuss it from various points of view, which only demonstrates our lack of perfection; hence, we define it as One, Unique, and Unified, but various definitions of the Upper Force, the Creator, exist only relative to us.

• One means that there isn’t any other force that could govern the universe, as it is written: “There is none else beside Him.”
• Unique means that He is united in all of His acts and has no other intention.  
• Unified means that even if His actions seem irrelevant and contradictory at times, it is only because we all exist in different states that are opposite to Him. Hence, we each have different perceptions, as it is written: “Everyone judges according to his own flaws.” But as we continue to correct ourselves, all of these cardinally different states and attributes eventually come together into one notion.

“One” means perfection. If there are two, they are somewhat different, and one lacks the qualities of the other; together, they complete each other. And if there were a million instead of two, then each of them is even less complete; he or she has only a millionth part of perfection and lacks the other 999,999 parts.

If we say that there is only one, it means that everything is in him. But I don’t think He has everything because I am opposite to Him, and that means that the problem is in me rather than in Him.

If He is one, and everything is in Him, then it doesn’t matter how I view Him: as good or evil, light or dark, cold or warm. I have to understand that these opposite attributes are not in Him. He is neither good nor evil; these opposite notions exist only in my perception.

If I say that the Creator is always good, it doesn’t constitute the definition of “One” either. “One” means that neither good nor evil exists in Him. I am the one who judges His manifestations relative to me. Meanwhile, He is One, something totally abstract, beyond what is even called good.

A person is inspired by the meaning of “One,” its perfect purity and sensation of attainment. In this “One,” the heart and mind come together as one.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/13/2011, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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Question: In the corporeal world, I have to see and draw a line between two points in order to connect them. How can I connect two souls with the help of The Zohar’s text?

Answer: I don’t know what my soul is, and I know even less about what the other souls are. Moreover, I will never know this. I only need to develop the correct attitude towards them called “bestowal,” and that’s it.

I have no awareness of who I am, nor do I know who my friend is. All I need to do is love him, and that’s enough. It means that I attain the force of the Creator, which rules between us. My open attitude towards the other person, my ability to like and love him is the Creator’s force, the force of bestowal. It is the Creator since He is omnipotent, and I become His part.

We don’t know who anyone is right now; it will be revealed later on. All I need to do is accept the conditions as they unfold. But all of my attention should go towards connection without contemplating who I am as I am the one who is supposed to make the effort to love the others right now.

Yet, to the degree of my effort to bring myself to love and bestowal, I will know my friend and myself even more. I will attain it only if I tie myself and him together with love, then both of our souls will be revealed. It will happen only under this condition.

Therefore, I should focus on the correct attitude towards others, the point where I can exert my effort, my desire, in order for it to be revealed. But how can I create and achieve such desire? Where does it come from? It comes from the group; it is where I influence my friends and they influence me. I have to feel my lowliness in order to receive the importance of the goal from them, and the Creator will be revealed between us.

Thus, I unveil this point more and more using the force of one gram, and all of the worlds light up. Why do I do it? In order to attain this entire labyrinth, to pass through it, learn the whole program of creation, and attain the entire wisdom.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/12/11, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “The Donkey Driver”

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Question: Why did the world of Nekudim break?

Answer: The world of Nekudim miscalculated. It thought that it would manage to receive the entire infinite Light of the Final Correction “in order to bestow,” but failed since it unexpectedly started to feel self-gratification. It didn’t ever realize that there were such deep desires in it and, against them, such exalted Light, such immense pleasures.

Rabash demonstrates this by telling a story about a man who comes to a wedding party thinking that he can please the bride and groom by celebrating and dancing along with the other guests. However, after a few drinks, he eventually loses his sense of reality and starts getting loud at the table. So, he is taken out, brought home to his wife, and from then on nobody wants to invite him to weddings.

Now, he needs to correct himself and start watching his actions: in what shape he arrives to the party and how much he can drink, which is only a little just to honor the host and never step over the boundary. A similar story happened to the world of Nekudim.

Yet, none of this was in vain. The world of Nekudim broke in order to show the created being what it is compared to the Creator. In fact, all that had been revealed to it before the breaking wasn’t real, as it were. Never before had the creature been able to see the essence of its egoistic desire when faced with the Light carrying pleasure. It had always acted with the intention “to bestow” given by the Creator.

The Creator creates a creature in the world of Infinity, fills it with all of Light of Infinity in all desires (Kelim), and gives it all the intentions. Then, the creature makes a restriction, wants to receive in order to bestow, all thanks to the force of Light present in it.

This isn’t hard to understand: I am operated by the Light, and I follow its orders. It isn’t I who acts, but the two forces of the Creator: the will to receive and the will to bestow. The same pertains to nature in spirituality. The inanimate and vegetative, holy animals and angels, are all subject to this mechanism.

The nature of the creature is revealed for the first time when the creature acts independently, which is during the breaking of the worlds. The creature makes calculations based on the Light that is present in it and thinks that it can (as it always did before) receive all the Light in order to bestow, thereby completing correction.

All of a sudden, it turns out that everything that was done before was done by the force of Light, by its force of bestowal that filled you. It never was your decision; it was simply given to you at birth. Now, for the first time, your own nature comes to the surface.

Therefore, after the breaking, we can already speak of some creature that performs independent acts. It collects its empty desires which lack the screen and says, “And now, I will do it myself and receive the Light into them in order to bestow.” It’s like a foolish, willful son who, instead of a real weapon received from his father, the King, decides to go to war with a toy shield and sword as the fable describes.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/12/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: Will revealing the evil within make it more difficult for the person to acquire love of others?

Answer: But this is exactly what you are revealing: the evil in relation to love and unification with others. All the other evil pertains to the animate level.

For example, there are dogs that bite, and there are nice, cute dogs that are pets. Animals also have different personalities. However, we are not referring to a good or bad temper, but to the way a person reveals the real evil when he begins to unite with others. The actual evil inclination becomes revealed precisely in the rejection of the goal.

I unite with others in order to attain the goal, the Creator. We reveal the evil only when we aspire toward the goal. Evil does not become revealed without a connection to the goal. I can have a bad temper, I could lack patience and be irritable; however, this is neither called “evil” nor does it pertain to spirituality.

But when I try to attain love for my friends in order to acquire love for the Creator and I discover how much it sickens me, then evil is the degree of resentment and rejection. Evil is the aversion to unity.

Filter all the human properties and rid yourself of all the animate. There are “dogs,” “rabbits,” and “donkeys” sitting within us. Leave it all; do not take it into consideration. The prophets wrote in reference to this: “I came, and there was no man.” Evil is only associated with unity and aspiration toward the Creator.

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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/11/11, “What is the Bread of the Evil Eye at Work”

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There is nothing new in the universe. The Creator is unchanging. Everything was made and completed right away, and nothing is lacking. In that case, what do we need to add to creation? How can we supplement it?

It is written in the Torah that when God created the world, He “saw all that He had made, and it was very good.” Didn’t He see and know this before? Did He confirm that everything came out well only after completing the action? Why do the sages tell about it using these words?

There is only one force that operates in the world: the Creator. We do not discuss that which existed before the creation of the world because we perceive reality from the view of the creation. We can never perceive what precedes its existence.

We act according to the principles of “By Your actions, we know You,” and “one judges according to his own flaws.” We always come to the Creator (Boreh) from within our own properties when we reveal Him, which is called “come and see” (Bo – Reh).

This means that this does not refer to some force being revealed, but to the created being revealing this force within. For this purpose, the creature needs to be given the feeling and understanding of what it represents, where it is, who fathered and created it, as well as other details of perception which reflect its status.

For this reason, the creature experiences changes until all the Creator’s good becomes revealed. All these changes come from the end of an action, which is concealed in the initial thought. From the beginning, the Creator desires the creature to become like Him and exist in the best possible state.

The Creator’s initial point must become the final point of the creature. Once the two of them are soldered into one, everything begins to develop and open up in relation to the creature.

Only absolute kindness comes from the Creator. All the processes derive from His absolute love. He already perceives the creature in its final state; however, all the degrees, forces, and attainments must develop one after another in the creature itself. It needs to experience different contradictory states in order to learn about itself and attain the Creator.

The creature needs to add its “I” to the final point of equality and unity with the Creator, and this “I” needs to fully participate in the perfect state. This is why it is written that the final state differs “620 times” from the initial state. The creature adds all of its desire, understanding, comprehension, feelings, and sensations to it, and then it becomes a rightful partner similar to the Creator.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/12/11, “What Is it That it is Written and You Should Return to Your Hearts”

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First, we have to develop a relationship described as “Do not do to another what you yourself hate,” followed by “Love another as you love yourself.” We only need to determine who the “other” (the friend) is, who I am, and what “do” means. It has to do with a person’s actions relative to the friend, which have to acquire a tangible form in this world in the entire human race.

In the end, such relations will unfold between all humans, which can be called the world of Infinity, and it will signify the final correction (Gmar Tikkun). Here, on this sphere called Earth, among these animate bodies, we will establish the relationships that will be called our infinite soul.

When we reach that point, we will find ourselves in another world. There will be no more need for our experiencing all this materiality, and it will dissolve from our perception. Even now, it exists solely in our perception; all of this reality is but imagined.

This is the only purpose of our existence on earth. This is the place where everything occurs.

Before the fall of the Temple when people lived in spiritual attainment, they didn’t really live in another galaxy or dimension, did they? It is true, though, that internally they lived in another dimension with a different attitude. However, along with that, this world, the still, vegetative, and animate nature still existed, and everybody lived a normal life. They raised cattle, managed property, bore children, had jobs, and paid taxes.

However, the relationships between them were spiritual since all of them lived in mutual bestowal and maintained it to the best of their ability. Each person was important to the degree of their ability to bestow. Judgment was done based on the same principle: from the point of view of how much harm a person has brought on society and how suddenly his egoistic desire unfolded.

This was the way the people of Israel, whom Abraham led out of Babylon, lived up to the fall of the Second Temple. Now, in the group, we have to actualize what the wisdom of Kabbalah teaches in practice, meaning that our internal relations should be grounded on love and unity so we may live “as one soul.”

It has nothing to do with external closeness. We don’t need to actually eat from one plate, live in the same house, and keep a collective household. It’s all about internal relationships.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/12/11, “The Quality of the Hidden Wisdom – in General”

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“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “The Donkey Driver,” Item 88: They said to him, “But you have not told us your name, and where is your dwelling place?”

He replied to them, “My dwelling place is good and of great value to me. It is a tower floating in the air, great and honorable. And those who dwell in that tower are the Creator and one poor man. This is my dwelling place."

It is a problem when during the reading of The Zohar we begin to enjoy the narration because the pleasure muffles our inner search.

Question: But what do I need to look for here?

Answer: Let us say that I am taking a walk with my friend, and we receive pleasure from it on the spot. We are walking and enjoying every step of the way: The birds are singing, the grass is green, there is a nice breeze, the sun is shining. This is called a stroll because we enjoy the actual walk.

But there is another way to walk. We walk covered in sweat, it’s hard for us, and we curse the entire journey. But why do we continue walking? It’s because we want to reach the goal, and it is impossible to make it there in a nice and pleasant way. The path is so unpleasant that we would gladly give it up if we were able to reach the goal in one jump.

Basically, there are different ways to treat the journey: as a walk or as a means to reach the goal. The walk is not a means; it is a goal in its own, which we immediately attain. Now you need to decide for yourself the process that you are in: Are you even moving? Are you taking a walk? Or are you walking towards the goal?

If you read The Zohar and enjoy the actual reading, you are taking a walk. You feel good and you are not thinking about the distant goal. “What a beautiful narration! I am enjoying every word!” This is a walk.

You lack the intention, the inner search, the aspiration of unity with friends. You will see it as soon as you think about connecting. And then this will no longer be a walk, but a journey toward the goal.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/11/2011, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “The Donkey Driver”

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