Question: How do we distinguish spiritual properties from material ones, and how do these differences become apparent?

Answer: From early childhood and on, we have been developing properties of reception, that is, properties of absorption. We feel only what we can absorb into ourselves and for ourselves.

However, there is another phenomenon, another method of perception: effusion, outflow. We are not familiar with this property because it is not instilled in us from birth. But we have the starting point, and even if it is still absorption, its vector is bestowal rather than receiving.

In order to develop this property, we are given the wisdom of Kabbalah that tells us about the concealed part of reality. From there, we attract the abundance, giving that part of our desire a similar “external orientation.”

In other words, the Light develops the point in the heart, the only desire that will bring us to real bestowal. We don’t know what will grow from this seed, but its seedlings will be nothing like the fruit of absorption.

The intention to bestow is built on a different basis: A person begins to sense something that exists outside of himself as his own. It doesn’t become your possession as in our world, but rather, it is the “native” part of yourself. This is completely different from anything that we feel today.
[28143]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/30/10, The Zohar, Introduction, Article “The Rose”

Related Material:
Why Do We Feel So Bad?
Desires And Qualities: A Definition
The Book of Zohar Is A Ticket To The Spiritual World

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

As we read in The Book of Zohar, Introduction we should be more concerned with the intention, rather than with understanding the text. Our main concern should be to keep ourselves attuned properly. Why are we reading The Zohar? What happens to us meanwhile? What affects us? What do we wish to achieve as a result?

Only then do we turn to the text itself, trying to penetrate into its meaning. Only by “cleaning out” a place within ourselves will we achieve the needed effect. Otherwise, there will simply be no place for it to be revealed.

Question: How do we prepare this place?

Answer: We prepare it by rising above the obstacles. A person comes to a lesson on Kabbalah, to a “date” with The Book of Zohar, to a meeting with the friends with a whole heap of problems which seem coincidental to him, but there are no coincidences. There is none else besides the Creator.

Therefore, I need to perform the right calculation: I don’t understand what is happening, why it happens to me in particular or to us, and I still need to rise above everything only for the sake of unification with the friends. In this manner we prepare the foundation, create a place for future ascents; we form Malchut. This is written about in a different article from The Book Of Zohar, Introduction: “The Night Of The Bride.”

At the lesson, we are given an opportunity which is not present anywhere else. How important is it for me to reveal the Creator, to give Him pleasure? How important is it for me to rise above my egoism and unite with others in order to reveal Him? I constantly measure my goals according to their importance.

At the same time, I see that every time, I am given obstacles, and I need to step on the throat of my egoism in order to continue the path, staying in unification, on topic, and in direct closeness to the spiritual primary sources. This is a great work, and this is what is meant by “preparing a place” for the revelation of the Creator.
[28049]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/29/10, The Zohar, Introduction, “The Rose”

Related Material:
From The End Of The World To Its End
How To Turn A Descent Into An Ascent
Overcoming Obstacles In Your Life With The Right Intention Brings You Closer To The Creator

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

Question: From the very beginning of the lesson, I feel that I am battling myself in order to hold the intention, but I fail constantly. How can I hope to win this battle someday?

Answer: Since you’re asking me, I will tell you just one thing: If a person doesn’t connect himself to the group, the teacher, and the studies using every means possible, he will not survive. Only patience and perseverance can help… “Holding on with his teeth,” a person needs to determine his place and advance against his ego.

If you are here and you are constantly unhappy, wishing to escape every minute, and you still stay, be grateful at least for this. After all, this is already some kind of connection. It’s not important that you are “naked and deprived of everything,” as was written about King David. Nevertheless, you have some connection to the Torah.

Nothing can be done. We don’t understand to what extent we need to perform inner work. We cannot see this. A person constantly judges himself. He forgets that he is dealing with the Creator.

After all, the Creator gives you all this. He wishes to pull out all the stubbornness from you, all your pride, foolishness, and dumbness in the mind and in the heart. He pulls you in various directions, not leaving you alone even for a minute.

Allow Him to work on you. What can you do? How long will it go on? The more you can withstand, the faster He will carry out this work. However, if you are unable to stand it and every minute you scream, “Oh, no! Just not this!” He lessens His influence since He is proceeding along with you. It turns out that you advance very slowly.

Readiness to endure is everything. He reveals to you who you are to the extent that you have patience when you just don’t see this, but you are able to exert much effort to sort out all these things properly. What are they for? Why? From where? From Whom? What specifically do I do with them now?

If you truly invest all your strength into this, then you will advance. If not, you will continue to advance less. However, in any case, every one who exists within these boundaries advances. It takes years, but such is the path. Sometimes, it takes from 10 to 20 years, but so what? What is this compared to the universe that has existed for 15 billion years?

Your ancestor, a hundred thousand years ago, hunted for animals in order to find food for himself and throughout his whole brief life of 20 to 30 years didn’t think about revealing the spiritual world or the Creator. Just look at how many reincarnations you have already gone through and only now you have an opportunity to really realize them. All the previous incarnations are now reaching their realization.
[28058]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/29/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
You Will See A Reverse World….
How Do You Become A Spiritual Superman?

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

Until you receive spiritual attainment, you should not accept the stories of Kabbalists as facts that do not require proof, but only as a condition for your own spiritual development. You cannot use their description as a spiritual law and act according to it because you are not on the level from which it was written.

Therefore, we need to accept it as hypotheses, assumptions that such laws indeed act in the spiritual world. However, they are not carried over into our material world, meaning your state and your world.

Even the words of sages are their attainments, their world. They know how to work there and not make mistakes. If you begin to implement the same principles in the work, you will use all these statements in the egoistic form that you understand, that is, for the sake of your egoism rather than for bestowal like they used them. For this reason, it will clothe into the most egoistic forms for you. Thus, it is forbidden to do this.

Every person should have his own “judge” who limits him and says, “You may act only in accordance with your own corrections.” It is forbidden to come out of the boundaries of your corrections even if you’ve read or heard about it.

However, who is reading this? You are! Who is hearing it? You are! It has already passed through you, and it has already warped in your egoistic perception. How do you know how correctly you understood everything? It’s likely that you understood incorrectly since everyone “judges according to his own Kelim (vessels),” and you perceive everything that was said by Kabbalists in your own defects.

Do you understand to what extent studying comes down only to the Light that Reforms even for Kabbalists and sages? If you don’t draw the Light that Reforms through the studies which changes you, giving you an opportunity to work in accordance with these changes, then you are not allowed to listen to any advice of the Torah. After all, if you use it above your correction, above your degree, it will be to your detriment.
[28099]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/29/10, "Body and Soul"

Related Material:
Establishing A New Coordinate Axis
I Am The Act Of The Creator!
Bringing Everyone To The Level Of Moses

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Kabbalah Study - 2 Comments →

It seems to every person that the Creator gives him preference compared to other people. Everyone has this trait because he senses that he comes from his own unique Upper root. Since a person does not feel this root in others, it seems to him or her that he or she is unique. This is the way the power of the breaking works.

However, there is no bad without good. We only have to use this sensation of our uniqueness correctly. In other words, rather than feeling as a king’s son born in the palace, a person has to reach the degree called “son” (“Ben” in Hebrew) through his own efforts. This is big and hard work.

A person has to erase this “exclusivity” from himself which he got in his head. He needs to do away with all his excuses and hopes that he is seemingly entitled to something. He has to understand that “he who did not labor, did not find.”
[28017]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/26/10, Baal HaSulam, Letter 52, 1928

Related Material:
We Are Infinities Joined In A Circle
The Unique Range Of Each Soul

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work - 3 Comments →

Question: How do we strengthen the responsibility of every friend in regard to the mutual guarantee?

Answer: If the Light does not affect me to a sufficient extent and does not bring me to a state where I begin to care about the friend’s state, will I really think about him? Never! On the other hand, if I receive an awakening from the Light, suddenly I will feel such a desire. Either I have it or not. However, I need to contribute to having it.

Therefore, I do not eat myself up for not loving the friends. I don’t love them, don’t care about them, and don’t think about them because I am not connected to them. In order to change this state, I need the influence of the Light. If it affects me, I will think about others; if it doesn’t affect me, I won’t think about them. I need to determine exactly where and how I can cause a change.

Right now, I don’t love you, but the Light comes, and, suddenly, I do. Why is that? I don’t know; the Light does this. We only need to rouse its influence, and everything else is a consequence. However much desire, concern, and worry He gives me is how much I will have.

Hence, the most important concern is to awaken the Light, and this can happen only in the process of mutual studying. We await this phenomenon precisely from studying since there is no other means. During the studies, we think together, “When will the Light finally change and unite us?” This is the intention.
[28126]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/26/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

Related Material:
In The Creator’s Arms
The Work Of The Creator
Make Hay While The Sun Shines

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

Question: How can I think about the correction that The Book of Zohar brings us if I feel negative emotions such as hatred?

Answer: Prayer is whatever the heart feels. If there is hatred in my heart now, then this is my prayer, “I want to hurt my enemy.”

In order to correctly use the force that’s hidden in The Book of Zohar while reading it together in a group, I must first prepare my heart so it will desire the same thing the Creator desires. In reality, the Creator responds to every prayer, meaning the desires in our heart. That is why our world is so bad!

However, on the other hand, it is written that He responds only to the prayer that has gone through “the gate of tears.” So does He really respond to every desire, even the whim of a baby or the machinations of a villain?

Yes, say the Kabbalists who have revealed the system of our relationships with Him. A thief who has set his sights on some object, or a criminal who goes out “on the prowl” and is ready to kill someone, also desire to succeed and their prayer is also accepted. After all, we are talking about the desire of Malchut of the World of Atzilut, and everything beneath it, including our world, belongs to it.

Why, then, do we say that the desire can ascend into Malchut, or it can not ascend? The matter is that we draw a division into two types of desires:

– Some aspire in the same direction as the Creator’s will. Then they unite with the upper desire and are perceived as abundance from Above.

– Some do not match the Creator’s will. They also evoke the same response from Above as the positive desires, but are perceived by the negative desires negatively, as a negative reaction. This corrects a person, leading him down a lengthy, difficult path of suffering instead of the short, easy path where his desires coincide with the Creator’s desires.

That is why it is best for us to prepare for the right prayer and to use it when turning to The Book of Zohar. A person cannot sit at the lesson without any desires. One way or another, he desires something, and if his desire has been prepared ahead of time and aspires in the right direction, then he advances easily and quickly while reading The Zohar.

Besides, we have to remember that we are in the group, which helps us to strengthen our prayer. Thus, if a person’s thoughts are not aimed at the goal, then he takes an adversarial position in relation to the group and feels what seems like a negative reaction from Above even more.

Therefore, our entire work amounts to preparing for the lesson, that is, for reading The Zohar and other Kabbalistic books. Once we are at the lesson, it is difficult to change anything because a person’s heart is already tuned to a specific desire.

That’s why it is so important what thoughts I have when going to sleep and how I prepare for the lesson in the morning. These minutes play the decisive role. And we shouldn’t forget about the physical preparation so the body won’t fall into slumber.

Rabash writes the following in Article 36 in Writings of Rabash:
It is written, “He who hears the prayer.” Why does it say “the prayer” in the singular tense? Doesn’t the Creator hear all prayers? The matter is that we have to raise just one prayer: to restore the Shechina from the dust.

To pray for the restoration of the Shechina from the dust means to desire the revelation of the Creator, the quality of bestowal and love for the neighbor inside me in order to become similar to the Creator in this regard. If we all aim our efforts in one direction, then we are knocking on the gate that will definitely open.
[29034]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/7/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
What Is In Our Power To Do?
My Contribution
Appealing To The Creator Together

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Kabbalah Study, Prayer and Intention, Q&A, Zohar - No Comments →

Question: How do I recognize the signs of drawing closer to bestowal?

Answer: It comes from within. We don’t feel the effect of the Light. Generally, we don’t know the underlying causes of events and judge our life solely based on the effects.

Electricity manifests by giving function to electrical devices or electric shock. Similarly, the Light remains “behind the scenes” and demonstrates to us the effects of its work. I don’t see the Light itself, but its effects.

We are all the Creator’s makings. How, then, may we judge what changes take place in us? The criterion lies in the fact that I begin to think differently, and treat myself and the world in a new way.

I change within; it is hardly noticeable from the outside. Changes unfold not in egoistic properties, but in the new, additional desires. On the outside, the person remains the same.

Hence, Kabbalah is regarded as secret wisdom. On one hand, it reveals what is hidden, and on the other, it is concealed from the eyes of the outsiders who are unable to detect my inner transformation. They simply don’t possess the properties enabling them to perceive it.
[28140]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/30/10, The Zohar, Introduction, Article “The Rose”

Related Material:
Bestowal Makes Us Related To The Whole World
Spiritual Ascent
The Creator Will Be The One Revealed In The Group

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

Sometimes there are states, when a student thinks that he is smarter than the Teacher, that he understands something better, and that he can have his own opinion about inner work. He simply forgets that “the mistakes of sages are constructive, while the creations of the young are destructive.” It seems to a student that he is right from the rational point of view, and the Teacher is wrong about many things, or maybe he is just insufficiently informed.

However, the spiritual differs from the material, and a person who exists in the spiritual cannot be wrong. Furthermore, even if today it seems to you that the Teacher is wrong, this is not the case in perspective. This can be likened to how a child thinks that a tailor is ruining the fabric by cutting it into pieces. However, one who understands that it should turn into clothing thinks: “What can you do? He’s a child!”

A person who wishes to advance needs to proceed with faith above reason in spite of seeing mistakes in the Teacher’s actions since the whole nature is split into degrees, and one who is situated on a higher degree is likely to act correctly. And the evident mistakes of the Teacher are your own mistakes!

Therefore, we need faith. Faith means that I am working with the mind of the Upper One rather than with my own mind. I annul myself before him and accept what comes to me with joy. It may seem incorrect to me on my degree, but when I rise to a higher degree, I will reveal that it is the truth.

Everything depends on whether a person is ready to accept it. While it strengthens some because they understand that it is a good sign and they need to agree with the Upper governance, others cannot cope with their egoism and become more distant from the path and the goal. It is said about this: “Where the righteous go forward, the wicked go back.”

It is impossible to pass to a higher degree if I don’t accept it with faith above reason in relation to the teacher and the group. I accept everything they have and cancel myself, which is called being “Hafetz Hesed,” not desiring anything for yourself; this is the first correction.

From the very lowest to the very top degree, you should always advance by acquiring the level of “Hafetz Hessed” in regard to the Upper degree. This is called advancing with faith above knowledge.

Joy is a sign of faith! You are “happy with your lot,” and you wish only to agree with the teacher, the group, and the Creator: nothing more! You are happy because you are in consent with them, which means that you have reached correction and can go on to a higher degree. Your egoism has calmed down, and now you need to receive additional obstacles in order to correct them and receive the Light of Hochma in them, and this is already much more difficult.

Now you need to begin to bestow instead of just agreeing with the teacher and the group; you need to work with their desire instead of your own. Your desire should serve their desires, and they are always opposite! We need to go through a few inner overturns in our egoism! Therefore, the extent of faith in the teacher determines the height of the student’s degree.
[28730]
From a lesson 11/26/10, Shamati

Related Material:
How To Find A Teacher?
Cleave To The Teacher And Follow Him

Filed under: Inner Work, Kabbalah Study, Perception, Spirituality - No Comments →

Question: We see that our efforts should result in a miracle. What must we do for it to happen?

Answer: We have to really want it, like a small child. However, a miracle happens after numerous efforts. You have to see what a monster your ego is and how it gets in your way, blocking all that’s good. You have to come to hate the ego despite the fact that you grew up on Pharaoh’s “lap,” played with his crown (Keter), and were a true prince who had everything.

Now, you hate your ego passionately and can’t remain in it. You’re ready to receive blows to the ego. You intentionally subject it to the ten plagues of Egypt in order to disconnect from it.

However, when we feel a blow, we instantly try to hide from it because we associate ourselves with the ego. Yet, if I disconnect from the ego, then I will agree to accept the blows: Let the ego receive the blows and suffer; the ego is not my “I.” I’m simply next to it.

Then, I’ll gradually begin to separate myself from the ego until I go through all ten plagues. I don’t associate myself with the ego, although the ego is suffering a great deal. This is the only way I can rise above it and escape.

Escape is exiting from Egypt. This is when I’ve almost disconnected from the ego, but there is still a thin thread left which I cut off in order to disconnect myself completely and run off into the darkness of night.

We must go through all the disconnections before reaching the final one by means of methodical blows. We have to rise above them.

Our work consists of no longer wishing to associate ourselves with Pharaoh: He is separate from me, and I’m separate from him. It’s true that I grew up in his home. I came from him, but it’s not my “I.” Now, Pharaoh is my biggest enemy.

The miracle is in the help that you get. This is how all miracles happen: We work and put in the effort in disconnecting from the ego and elevating ourselves, and in the end, a miracle occurs. The Light makes it happen after you’ve put in all your effort.

So, after working hard, let’s wait for a miracle. Happy Hanukkah!
[28331]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/1/10, Writings of Rabash, “Hanukkah”

Related Material:
“Praising The Miracle” Of Hanukkah
The Light Of Hanukkah In Your Heart

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