Question: Should I remember the diagrams from Talmud Eser Sefirot (The Study of The Ten Sefirot) by heart, or should I make an effort to experience them within me, without any understanding?

Answer: If you check our archive, you will see Rabash’s diagrams. If you open the texts written by other Kabbalists, even The Book of Creation (Sefer Yetzira) or the ARI’s manuscripts, you will see diagrams there as well. If you open The Book of Zohar, there aren’t any drawings in it, but you will find various charts.

Kabbalah is a science. We are exploring a new world full of various forces, and we want to know the formula by which these forces are mutually intertwined in each state, each place. If we learn about these combinations of forces, we will be able to achieve the same state by obtaining the screen.

Suppose I have a screen, the force or the strength of desire to ask for the force, then I’ll receive the knowledge, strength, and an example from the upper Partzuf. I need all three components: the knowledge, strength, and an example. In front of me, the lower Partzuf, is the upper one. This upper Partzuf demonstrates an example for me by bringing the lower part of its Partzuf down to me (Raglaim, lower extremities).

As Rabash’s article “Inclusion of the Attributes of Mercy and Judgment” describes, the upper Partzuf brings me darkness, but it allows me to clearly define what I must add in order for it to start illuminating as Light. This is how we work.

We reside in a cosmos of forces that act according to certain laws, and we must perform our work with absolute precision and knowledge of how much to take from one side or the other, how to ascend and descend, and how to establish a connection with which properties. And all of this is accompanied by extremely powerful experiences, impressions, discoveries, but at the same time, with clear and accurate knowledge.

In our world, I can appreciate and enjoy music, but it is impossible to compare my impression with that of a musician, who experiences the music in his emotions and mind, feeling it much deeper than I am able to do. If people approach this correctly and try not to egoistically demean another’s work, they become more proficient in the subject. Consequently, they bring their mind closer to their feelings, and the mind enhances the feelings. But in our world, the mind usually overrides feelings because its roots are in the ego, and we desire to belittle each other.

Yet, it is different in spirituality. We may get impressions while looking at the diagrams, but a diagram gives me a chance to understand the relationship between spiritual forces and its properties; it does not reflect the object itself.

If I look at the diagram where Abba ve Ima is clothed from Peh up to Chazeh of Arich Anpin, I don’t receive this impression. But it does give me an opportunity to feel impressed by if I know what Arich Anpin is, what its properties from Peh to Chazeh are (since I experience them), and what are the attributes of Abba ve Ima, what they can receive from Arich Anpin by becoming clothed in it, how they react, and so forth.

A diagram is similar to an inanimate formula since it is just letters. It all depends on what you bring into these letters, what essence. Therefore, we have to know the basic diagrams.

Baal HaSulam writes that we can’t exist in this world without a basic knowledge of the processes taking place in it. Similarly, we can’t exist in the spiritual world without a basic knowledge of it.

In the corporeal world we have to finish school in order to interact with the world and people correctly; only in the same way can we enter the spiritual world and navigate within it. There is no other way. Everyone must have a minimum amount of fundamental knowledge. It gives a person an admission slip to enter spirituality.
[29848]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/15/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

Related Material:
Despair, But Don’t Give Up
The Sky Is Not The Limit
Establishing A New Coordinate Axis

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Kabbalah Study, Q&A - No Comments →

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Volume 3, Part 8: Time and place in spirituality signify a renewal of form. Since a Partzuf grows only through a multitude of unions (Zivugim) and transfers of Lights that differ from one another, building it together, they are called "the months of the intrauterine development" or the period of embryonic development, which can last for 7, 9, or 12 months depending on the amount of portions of Light that are necessary to form it.

We study the changes that happen to the will to enjoy and count the number of these changes or renewals, which are called "months" (Hodesh, month, comes from the word Hidush, renewal). There is no time in spirituality. Time is determined by the number of changes that we have gone through, rather than the motion of the hand of a clock or the changes of some external factor. As much as I changed, that is how much time has gone by. This is how time is defined in spirituality.

Therefore, the period of an embryo’s development means that I go through one state after another ("I go through," Over, comes from the word embryo, Ibur). I have to go through a specific amount of changes in order to go from the intrauterine development inside the Upper One to development outside of Him.

Now I am also in the Upper One and He develops me. During this process of development I have absolutely no influence on the changes I undergo. I am forced to change by instincts and forces that I experience as suffering, and thus, I go through these changes against my will.

Then another phase comes: I start to feel that there is some kind of reason behind it, that there is a high need for it, and there is an Upper One who makes all these changes to me, wishing for me to start finding out about the system of governance, the cause and effect order of development, the beginning and goal of the whole path. That is how the whole world is beginning to awaken in our times.

After that we reach the realization that we have to evoke these changes ourselves. From a certain state onward there is no time that the Upper One changes for us, forcing us to develop. Now the Upper One only adds Lights for us, which we perceive as evil. However, this does not enable us to develop, but only to reach the realization that we have to demand development from the Upper One. That is, we must already participate in the development ourselves and demand it.

The Upper One does not force me to do the action itself, but only to request it so I would ask the Upper One to carry it out. My request has to be in the middle. For now this request can be expressed as a cry due to feeling bad.

After that I develop and am required to have this cry come out of the realization of goodness, when I understand that all of this is for my good. Even though I might feel bad in my sensations, I already realize that this is good for my development, because I have to ascend to the next level. Then the Upper One no longer demands a cry from me, but cooperation in development. This is called partnership.

After that we reach a state where the Upper One does not awaken me at all, but I have to search for an opportunity to awaken inside of me, using the environment. I have to awaken the Upper One so He would awaken me, and then agree with His action and tell Him exactly how to do it. It’s as if I understand and choose the best form of action for myself, and then the Upper One does it.

In the end we reach a state where I give the Upper One all the orders. In the beginning of the path He made all the actions upon me, from beginning to end, without my awareness. I did not know who is operating me, what He does, and where I am. But at the end of the path I determine everything from beginning to end, and only use the force of the Upper One.

Our entire path lies in that we acquire increasingly greater independence and self-sufficiency, becoming more and more similar to the Upper One.
[29951]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/16/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

Related Material:
When I Nullify Myself, I Grow
Who Will Help Me Attain The Goal?
A Weekly Renewal

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Evolution, Free Will, Inner Work, My Similarity to the Creator, Prayer and Intention, Suffering - No Comments →

Question: As I advance, I should be more grateful for the fact that there is the Upper Force which advances me. But I don’t know how I can do it, how can I rely on the existence of the Upper Force?

Answer: Don’t rely on it! Don’t believe in the Upper Force  until you activate your power from below. There is no Creator without the creature. We advance only according to our request, MAN, by influencing the forces of nature with it.

When Kabbalists describe the Partzufim, they tell us only about the actions of bestowal. Partzufim, per se, don’t exist. In exactly the same manner, they write about our effort and existence: There is no Creator and no worlds; there is nothing if a person does not activate his or her power of bestowal.

As soon as a person activates the force of bestowal, the worlds immediately appear, not relative to him, but in a general sense since they don’t exist otherwise. All of reality, including the spiritual world, does not exist outside of man. This is what the wisdom of Kabbalah states in its section “The Perception of Reality.”

So, what can a person rely on? Outside of man there is nothing; everything is within him only. If we don’t put ourselves in motion, we don’t construct the system of worlds.

As soon as I’m willing to give, I immediately face the Light of Infinity. Then, between it and me, the worlds are born, a communication system between me and the world of Infinity. If I am not performing acts of bestowal, then nothing exists.

All of spiritual reality (we are not talking about the material world because it’s imaginary) exists within man to the extent that he has the power of bestowal. If he has no power of bestowal, then nothing exists. We can’t say that there is something outside of man unless he himself builds it, creates and implements it.
[29156]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/8/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

Related Material:
Bring Yourself Back To Life
From Apprentice To Mater

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Perception, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: What is the love of friends?

Answer: Love is unity in one common desire. Kabbalah gives us the following example: When Bina reaches the state of Hafetz Hesed (wanting nothing for oneself), it comes down to Malchut, unites with it, and absorbs its desire so as to fulfill it with all the force of Bina.

That’s called love: to absorb someone else’s desire and fill it with whatever you can. It is written that one has to give up his only pillow; it’s the manifestation of love which we need to achieve.

But how is it possible to achieve it? We have to make sure that in the material world each one would have all the basic necessities, and in the spiritual world each one would receive everything there is in our common desire (Kli, vessel).

It’s very important to view all of us as one desire and to do everything to keep it alive. Each one must feel that it depends on him and that it’s in his power to tip the scale for this world from the cup of guilt to the cup of mercy. This way, we create a place called Malchut in which the Upper Light, the Creator, is revealed, but we have to try not to forget that the ultimate goal is to give contentment to the Creator.

But it’s not easy to do it in regards to the Creator; we still lack a clear feeling of His Light. So we should, at least, think about how to bring pleasure to the place where He is hiding, the place all desires for Him have assembled. As it is written, "From the love of the created beings to the love of the Creator." Love of the created beings actually is the most general, unified desire.

The relationship between our souls that we want to restore is called the love of friends. Friends are individuals coming together on the material level in order to reach the inner, spiritual connection. We already know all about it; now it’s the time to just implement it.

An infinite number of words have already been spoken about it, but, each time, they are perceived anew, according to the state a person is in. We only need to absorb them more deeply within ourselves, and the Light will come and develop in a person the entire picture without words. Then it will become clear to us.

Here, patience is needed. It’s not that I agree to wait and put everything away for later, for tomorrow. Have the patience to make every possible effort today, but if you don’t see any signs of success, have confidence that it will happen any moment.
[29711]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/10/2010, Baal HaSulam, Letter 13, 1925

Related Material:
My Beloved Group
The Circle Symbolizes Spiritual Perfection
A Happy Mother Of 7 Billion Babies

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Q&A - 1 Comment →

Question: What is the difference between the need to prepare for the lesson before the convention and now?

Answer: It has become clearer to us that we are under the rule of egoistic desire which will never let us reveal the Creator on our own without help from Above. We have revealed our helplessness a bit more, the inability to achieve it on our own, and as a counter to it, we have come to realize that there is an Upper Force that can do this if we really want it.

It’s become a little bit clearer, but that "little bit" is quite a lot indeed! It’s a revelation from Above. It actually is the "illumination of the day," an "illumination by the Light," and that Light makes egoism visible, something Baal HaSulam called the "revelation of the wicked." The convention did its job.
[29708]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/10/10, “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot”

Related Material:
The Timer Keeps Ticking
Let Your Heart Knock On The Creator’s Door

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Q&A - No Comments →

You can’t get into the final state at once since then you wouldn’t be independent. You have to re-create and build the bonds with other souls yourself. The connections disappear, the picture gets erased for you, and you have to restore it again and again. Thereby you build your independent personality.

The final corrected state is not important: It exists already! Your current state is unimportant either for it is imaginary. What matters is only your effort, your desire to envision this system and put it into motion, similar to when a child plays his adult life. By this game you build your "I."

The state into which you are constantly being thrown is called "this world." A corrected state depends only on what level of connection you rise to: Assiya, Yetzira, Beria, Atzilut, or the world of Infinity.

Each time you enter and leave the spiritual world, even at the highest degrees where this entire system becomes clear to you and only some small, perhaps even unnoticeable details, are left unclear. Suddenly, you are being thrown out completely into the complete darkness, and you have to come back.

And the work becomes harder and harder, as it should be for big people. Indeed, who is considered to be a great expert? A person who is able to perform difficult tasks and solve the problems nobody else can handle.

So it follows that he works harder than the others, he earns more money ("Kesef" – covering, the screen), fame, and status than everybody else.
[29650]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/13/10, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”

Related Material:
Spiritual Standard
Once Again About Love

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work - 1 Comment →

It’s a problem when a religious, orthodox person becomes stuck on carrying out the physical commandments and doesn’t wonder what is it for, what is the purpose of creation, and what does the Creator want from us? The Creator wants us to reveal and know Him!

By being satisfied with only physical actions, a person causes all of the world’s problems. He doesn’t understand how carrying out these physical commandments can be harmful. However, by doing so, he doesn’t correct anything because all correction takes place within the desire.

This is why we have to reveal all Reshimot (reminiscences, spiritual records), all of our inner breaking, starting with the source. That is, each one of us has to reach his root in the world of Infinity. There can’t be a correction unless the Creator becomes revealed within a person’s inner desires, Kelim (vessels). If he doesn’t study Kabbalah with the purpose of revealing the Creator, he won’t advance.

Everyone is ready for this to some extent since everyone has a desire. He is, after all, a human being, not an animal. This means he must bring his desire to similarity with the Creator. This is all that’s required of him or her. Start studying with your initially small desire, and see what a great and eternal desire will become revealed within you. After all, the root of each soul exists in the world of Infinity.

This is why the wisdom of Kabbalah can’t be hidden from people. On the contrary, people have to be provided with all that is necessary for them to study.

Right now, they are unable to understand it, but we will see how things suddenly will change and everything will become revealed. This wisdom isn’t perceived in the mind, but in the desire, and this desire is infinite in everyone.

A person can be undeveloped, living the most primitive life style in some remote place, but if a path to correction suddenly becomes revealed to him, then he’ll completely change because this is a matter of spiritual sensation. This is why Kabbalah can’t be hidden from anyone.
[29541]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/12/10, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”

Related Material:
How To Gain Confidence And Freedom
The Second Force

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Kabbalah Dissemination, Religion - No Comments →

Question: There are always inner disturbances present by our side, the Pharaoh that makes us forget about the Creator. How can we fight him?

Answer: We have to love the disturbances! That is, we have to hate them, but with love! It’s as if you have revealed an illness and on one hand, you are happy that you have discovered it, while on the other hand you hate it.

Any disturbance is the Creator’s messenger, intended to direct you, to “mold” you, to set you in order, and to give you a specific form. Everything comes from the One who is Good and Does Good. Therefore, if I now receive any kind of bad response, reaction, or burdening of the heart, then even if I don’t love it, I should at least welcome it with joy.

Yet, we also shouldn’t delve inside all of these disturbances, but ascend above them. We have to accept all of them as help.

How else can we act? Imagine that you are an athlete and there is a coach standing next to you who tells you that you have to jump ten times. But you start to object and argue that you don’t want to jump.

Then he gives you more exercises and you once again refuse to do them. Do you think that this kind of athlete will ever achieve any results? But that is exactly how we behave.
[29811]
From the lesson on Baal HaSulam’s Letter on 12/10/10

Related Material:
You Will See A Reverse World….
What Inspires Me?
Powerful Weaknesses

Filed under: Inner Work, Prayer and Intention, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: What are “letters” in the spiritual sense?

Answer: Letters are forces, attributes of the upper influence on Malchut. Malchut, per se, is the assembly of all souls. Their unity has to absorb all the 22 letters and five of their final forms (MaNTzePaCh), including their multiple forms in the Torah: starting with the first word “in the beginning (Beresheet)” and ending with the last word “Israel.”

The question is: What is the basic letter, basic “signal,” upon reception of which a person will definitely reach correction? Even the properties integrated into the structure of Bina, which manages all corrections, and even the forms of communication with the Creator and connection with Him that are included in Bina, such as Samech (ס) and Mem (מ), do not guarantee us success.

The letter Samech signifies the upper part of Bina. At the first glance, what could be more exalted than that? It doesn’t wish anything for itself and needs only bestowal, wants only to be included in the Giver, exist above its desire, no matter its eruption within.

The letter Mem contains Samech in it; moreover, it is filled with the desires of others to be able to bestow to them. What more can there be if I already don’t wish anything and, above all, I take care of all the others like a mother?

The properties of Samech and Mem meet all demands of bestowal: They correspond to repentance from fear and repentance from love accordingly. Why then can’t we get reformed by them? What is missing here?

What is missing is the letter Bet (ב) symbolizing blessing, that is, the magic property, a special force from Above. It shows us that nothing matters: neither mind, nor heart, nor time you spent studying matters, nor, frankly speaking, anything that we may want to consider. None of this leads us out into the spiritual world.

This is the main idea of the article on letters from “Introduction from The Book of Zohar”: We need only a blessing.
[29723]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/14/10, “Introduction from The Book of Zohar,” Article “The Letters by Rabbi Amnon Saba”

Related Material:
Blessing And Condemnation
Letters Are Qualities

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Q&A, Zohar - No Comments →

Question: Sages said that Kabbalah cannot be taught to anyone who hasn’t abandoned “idolatry and superstitions.” What do they mean?

Answer: "Superstition" is to think that our life depends on chance rather than the singular upper force of “Good who does good,” beside which there is nothing else. Everything else is regarded as superstition: faith in government, one’s own power, forces of nature, luck, demons and spirits, or whatever that may be, except the one Creator who brings us only good.

Thus, superstition is any condition of man when he doesn’t see himself living in a mutually connected, closed world, one integral system, where the only governing power is the force of love and bestowal. If he doesn’t possess such clear perception, it means that he doesn’t have faith. Any other kind of perception and lack of desire to achieve faith is called superstition or believing in various, alien forces.

Yet, clearly, we set expectations of each person according to his development, just like we expect more and more from the child with each year according to its age. Therefore, don’t blame a layman for not being in the world of Infinity and sensing one Creator. However, everyone has to find a way to somehow envision it at his own level if he is a human being.
[29665]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/13/10, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”

Related Material:
Spiritual Development: From Embryo To Person
The World Through Distorted Lenses
How To Gain Confidence And Freedom

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Religion - No Comments →