Question: What is my intention and why is it so important if my mind and feelings are not taken into account in spiritual advancement?

Answer: Intention is the human within me; it defines what I want out of everything I have within. Everything I am filled with – perceptions, mind, hopes, fantasies, dreams, the past, present, and future – all of this gets mixed and discerned by me: What do I want out of all of this?

I don’t comprehend this mixture. Everything is tangled: Today it’s one thing, tomorrow another. But what I want is regarded as my intention.

In other words, now I look above my life and everything I have and decide what is the most important to me. It is the point where I can make a decision: I can either submerge myself in the “cocktail” I have mixed and forget about everything, returning to my daily life. Or, I can rise above it and wish to excavate from all this mix only what I can use for my advancement, the future life. This is what I must decide, and this is why intention defines the human being in me.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/25/10, The Zohar

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The science that leads us to receiving pleasure and fulfillment and brings us the sensation of comfortable, eternal, and complete life without a slightest recollection of any loss or lack is called the wisdom of Kabblah. It is a science that teaches how to obtain comfort in life by joining the good. After all, this is our true desire and nature.

We shouldn’t try to conceal or decorate it, or deceive ourselves. On the contrary, we need to discern what is worth desiring and, in accordance with that, clarify what our greatest desire is and what pleasure it can bring. Therefore, the entire wisdom of Kabbalah has been revealed to us so that we aim at the correct goal, the correct desire, and then cultivate it as much as possible.

However, in order to perceive the Creator, we must realize that the sensation of pleasure is only possible if I am equivalent to this pleasure, to the Creator. To receive pleasure from Him means to understand and feel Him. And this means that we have to be like Him, meaning to bestow, to give. But first, I have to comprehend what it means, and then I will be receiving His delights.

To the degree that I adapt to and resemble Him, become similar to Him, to that degree I begin feeling Him and delight in Him. Hence, the essence of our work lies in becoming similar to the Creator. The more I resemble Him, the closer I am to Him, the better I understand and feel Him.

But if I wish to merge with certain pleasures, it means I love them. Wanting to merge with the Creator, we, thereby, bond with the pleasure of bestowal, meaning that we have to love this quality.

How do we achieve it? That is what the wisdom of Kabbalah is all about. As soon as we learn to love the quality of love and bestowal, we will immediately begin to understand, feel, and enjoy the Creator.
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From the Introductory Lecture “Kenes-Springboard” 11/2/10

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Question: The Creator is concealed, but instead of Him I have the group. How can I see pure bestowal in it?

Answer: There are always disturbances in the group, and it is precisely with their help that we can do wonderful exercises, practicing to become similar to the Creator. Any negative must be used precisely as it was intended in order to turn it into a positive.

Everything is for the best; we only have to act correctly, without backing down from what is happening and by building the right attitude to it. “Everything is for the best” does not mean that we accept the inevitable ahead of time, as people commonly do. Rather, above the disturbance or example we received, we must first of all discern the final point, the corrected state. Then I will find the way to turn the incorrect into the correct, to unite myself in the present, the disturbance (which may be related to the friends, the Creator, or even my personal circumstances), and the goal of creation.

I will find out how to correct any aspect, be it a desire, intention, thought, or event. Not only will I be able to justify it and attribute it to the Creator, but I will also attach it to a connection with Him. I will understand to what extent I have to reconstruct my desire and way of thinking in relation to the given event, and how much I have to change my perception of the event in order to see that the Creator has brought me goodness.

The sign of this will be joy: I am happy because the Creator has given me the opportunity to come that much closer to Him. That is how our efforts gradually accumulate into a great possession.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/28/10, The Zohar

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Question: When we read The Zohar, we try to imagine something that we are not able to perceive as of now: the general soul of Adam HaRishon and unity. Doesn’t this mean that we are transgressing the law of the Torah by “creating an idol”?

Answer: This isn’t so. I don’t picture any material images of this world. I simply wish to sense a connection with others. For the time being, I picture this connection in my limited imagination and therefore see it as conventional relations. But being described is a feeling, a desire, and not material images. Though it may be egoistic, we are nevertheless trying to draw closer to a spiritual form. A person builds himself out of what he has.

We have to strive to reveal your connection with others. It already exists, only it is concealed from me. I try to find this connection through darkness and fog and wait for The Zohar to lift the veil that’s covering my senses and reveal the true picture.

I will see this picture with my heart rather than my eyes. Then I will truly feel everything that The Book of Zohar describes. Right now, I don’t know how it will be exactly, but it certainly will be in a form of interconnections.

After all, nothing exists but the types of interconnections among the parts of a spiritual desire, which are called “the soul.” The Light of NRNHY runs between these desires. Ultimately, this Light is the Creator.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/23/10, “Hakdama, BeLaila De Kala (The Night of the Bride)”

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Question: Why is it said that in order to get corrected, broken souls have to rise to the World of Atzilut if at first we have to go through all the worlds of BYA, step by step, starting with Malchut de Malchut of the World of Assiya?

Where am I: in Malchut of the World of Atzilut or some place in the worlds of Assiya, Yetzira, and Beria? If the Land of Israel is located in the World of Yetzira, whereas the most sacred place of the Temple that only the High Priest can enter is located in the World of Beria, how can I possibly be higher than him?

Answer: When I ask for correction, I rise together with a point in my heart to Malchut of the World of Atzilut, an assembly of souls of Israel. Our correction happens in Malchut of the World of Atzilut; it is our homeland, our Keter. Anything lower than the worlds of BYA is, in fact, dispersal of Malchut, her nine lower Sefirot.

All the worlds, Partzufim, and souls that are lower than the Parsa (beneath the borderline of the World of Atzilut) belong to Malchut de Atzilut. In other words, in order to get corrected, I have to rise there and connect with Malchut of the World of Atzilut. But where does the correction of me and my soul happen?

The common soul of Adam HaRishon is present in the worlds of BYA (starting with its “head” in GAR de Beria until the “feet” of the World of Assiya). If I raise my soul into Malchut de Atzilut and ask for correction, I receive the Light that Reforms from Above (it descends to me from the World of Infinity through all the worlds and is “meant” specifically for me). With this Light, I correct the connection between Zeir Anpin and Malchut of the World of Atzilut, which relates to me. Thus, I correct the broken connection between Malchut and Zeir Anpin (Shechina and the Creator).

I am representing the “bride’s friends” that support the Torah, which The Book of Zohar describes in the chapter called “The Night of the Bride.” I help her connect with the “Groom” and, therefore, I am called “a son of the bridal chamber.” By doing so, I correct my soul since Zeir Anpin and Malchut got separated only because of me, so that I would re-unite them and thus assemble all pieces back together.

When I re-establish the first connection between Malchut and Zeir Anpin, I correct my first spiritual level, Malchut de Malchut of the World of Assiya (see Baal HaSulam’s “Introduction to The Book of Zohar ”). The second time that I manage to reconnect Malchut with Zeir Anpin, I correct my Yesod de Malchut de Assiya, and so on. Each time I support Malchut and thereby elicit her union with Zeir Anpin. This is how I correct my soul.

In other words, we always raise our request (MAN) to Shechina, meaning to Malchut of the World of Atzilut. But our correction and revival happens in the worlds of BYA since Adam HaRishon was born in the worlds of BYA and doesn’t sense anything outside of them; these worlds are his environment. He rises and falls together with them.

Since I want to please the Creator, my intention raises to Malchut de Atzilut. Because I do so, I get corrected in the worlds of BYA, within my environment.

Let’s hope to rise to the level at which we, like a High Priest, enter the “Holy of the Holies,” meaning Bina of the World of Beria. This is how I raise Zivug ZON (Zeir Anpin and Nukva) to AVI (Aba ve Ima).
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Using the example of the article “The Night of the Bride,” we can somewhat understand how The Book of Zohar was written. Its authors were attaining Malchut as a whole while uncovering fragments of various parts in it, such as the desire to enjoy in order to receive (angel Dumah), the part working under the Second Restriction (Tzimtzum Bet).

The male part of Malchut is regarded as “King David” and the female part as “Bat Sheba.” Kabbalists were uncovering the Light that Reforms Malchut which can feel divided into two parts and work only in one of them. These two parts of Malchut are “MI” (מי) and “ELEH” (אלה). We are constantly working on their correct combination, and by doing so, become similar to Bina and the name of Elokim (אלה-ים) that consists of them both.

Seeing our roots in the World of Atzilut and their correct performance, the authors of The Zohar discover the appellations or the numeric symbols (Gematria) of these parts. Afterward, they colorfully describe them to us and explain that once in history, when the spiritual root descends and clothes in the corporeal world, we undergo the same states.

However, only the effects manifest in this world, while Kabbalists tell us specifically about the roots to which we have to become equivalent. Therefore, while reading The Book of Zohar, we must visualize the properties, forces, and actions that they discovered at the Upper degrees and not characters and events of this world.

How do we get to see spiritual acts after all? To do this, only one condition has to be met: We must develop qualities similar to theirs. We wish to unite and uncover between us the attributes of this mutual bonding and fill with the Light of Yod-Kei (י”ה) the part of the desire that will unfold in every person.

Then, we will understand and feel how to sort our desires and separate David’s part which we can work with from the part that we cannot work with. However, we will attach the corrected female part, Bat Sheba, to David.

Everyone will find these parts within himself in order to unite with the others and correct the collective Malchut where, in accordance with correction, the Creator gets revealed. All worlds manifest between the souls in the place where the restriction and lessening of the Light occurred.

When we yearn for oneness, the concealment disappears, and we find the forms of communication that The Book of Zohar describes until we reach unlimited interconnection, the World of Infinity.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/21/10, “Hakdama, BeLaila De Kala (The Night of the Bride)”

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Baal HaSulam, “Thou Hast Hemmed Me In Behind and Before“: Thou hast hemmed me in behind and before, meaning the revelation and concealment of the face of the Creator, for indeed “His kingdom ruleth over all,” and everything will return to its root because there is no place vacant of him. But the difference is in present tense or future tense, because he who connects the two worlds, discovers in the present His clothing: that everything that is done is a clothing for the revelation of divinity.

All events, from the beginning to the end, are sent by You and are aimed solely to open my eyes and bring me back to the Source. And there is no place where You don’t rule so that I may say that I acted on my own or someone else stood for or against me.

Everything is permeated by the Light of Infinity, the Creator; therefore, there is no act, thought, or step that would not be completely controlled by Him. And all of it has only one purpose: to get us to attain Him so that we come closer to Him, know Him, cling to Him, and accept His governance.

We need to become like Him and walk with Him further, agreeing with all His actions and copying all His moves to such an extent that we would be able to predict what He is going to do and wish to do it before He does. It turns out that it is my desire to make it so, and He is the one who does it after me!

A person reaches such subtle understanding and perception of all this system that is being revealed to him that he completely unifies with the Creator. I anticipate what the Creator wishes me to do, and like a small child who pulls the grownup by the hand, so do I move the creature toward perfection.

Clearly, in this case we annul time. There is no more past, present, or future, and we ascend to the state where everything takes place at once and simultaneously. The future gives way to the present.

And this is deemed present tense, meaning that now too he comes out in royal clothes [also in Malchut’s clothing] and evidently shows that the rider is not subordinate to the horse. But although it seemingly appears that the horse leads the rider, the truth is that the horse is provoked to any movement, only by the sensation of the bridle and headstall of the rider. And that is called the construction of the stature of divinity, and it is also called face-to-face.
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From Lesson 7, World Kabbalah Convention 2010, 11/11/10

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Spiritual fulfillment cannot be obtained directly, like a young child grabbing at a toy. In this form we only obtain life in our world.

At this very moment all of us are present in the World of Infinity (an unbounded reality), but because our method of existence is based on “grabbing,” that is, receiving and fulfilling ourselves egoistically, all we are able to receive from the infinite world is a tiny spark of the Light called “a thin candle” (Ner Dakik), which is limited to sensations of this world. We are incapable of perceiving more while receiving egoistically.

Egoistic fulfillment available to us in this world bears the shape of a faint illumination. It is intentionally given to us so that from this moment on, from this degree and further, we begin to develop using a different method: receiving into the vessel outside of ourselves and thus becoming a willing participant, similar, suitable, and equal to the Creator!

Only a tiny part of the vessel (desire) that we sense as “this world” is being filled. To directly receive more than this is impossible! The rest of our desires can only be filled through our similarity with the Creator, through our having the intention “in order to bestow.”

This is why the Creator separated our sensations into two parts: this world and the Upper world, placing a barrier between them called “Machsom.” This barrier (Machsom) has a psychological origin since while being underneath it (in this world), we are only capable of receiving internally, for our own sake. We would get much more, but it seems to us as if “other people” are strangers or outsiders.

We could have all of this under the condition that we overcome this psychological problem of perception, which makes everything seem “foreign” to us. We have to start considering everything there is to be “our own,” get closer to it, and begin sensing that things outside us are in fact our own. In return, we will receive all the worlds: Assiya, Yetzira, Beria, Atzilut, Adam Kadmon and at the end, the World of Infinity.

The biggest problem is to start perceiving those desires that seem “not our own” as “our own.” Afterward, whatever we receive into them will comprise our spiritual world.

For that, all we have to do is to attract the Upper Light that will show us our connectedness and demonstrate that all of us constitute one body. Then, the Upper Light will work as an eye-opener, and eventually we will perceive spirituality.

We will arrive at the clarification, and there won’t be any resistance left in us since we will see everything around as our own parts that belong to us as organs of one body. We never existed apart! It only appears to us that we are split, but, in fact, only our bodies are detached.

If we look deeper, we’ll see a system of our interconnectedness. Everything is done by the Upper Light!
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From Lesson 7, World Kabbalah Convention 2010, 11/11/10

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Rabash, “Make Them Happy with a Complete Building”: If a person wishes to erect a house for the Creator, he builds a perfect structure, for the Creator is perfect. …And the Creator will give them joy, the Light of faith, so they may complete their work.

Our foundation, the matter we are made of is Malchut, the will to receive pleasure (desire). We have to use it as construction material for everything because we don’t have any other. If we receive power from our egoism, we build “structures” similar to the Tower of Babel or the cities of Pithom and Ramses. The buildings come out tall and beautiful, but in the end, they don’t please us because we find them empty.

That is how humanity has been constructing itself for centuries until today, when in the final stage of humanity’s historical development, we have come to realize that everything we have built doesn’t make us happy any longer. Yes, we have erected so much, but all of it is empty and lacks content and true fulfillment. Surrounded by our creations, we feel more desperate than ever before.

Hence, it turns out that we cannot bring joy to ourselves and our loved ones as we don’t take pleasure in our construction work any longer. Only a perfect house will bring us joy, when our home, our Kli, will be filled with the Light. How do we fill it? How do we illuminate our matter from within?

The house must let the Light illuminate it. We build it from the will to feel pleasure, but it has to be home to sanctity, a Temple. Sanctity is Bina, the Light, bestowal; and the house is the Kli, the vessel. The vessel must be fit for the Light to come to it, meaning that it needs to have the intention to bestow.

How do I accomplish that? To bring light into a house, we cut windows in it. “Windows” are cavities, empty desires. In the walls of our matter, we make holes of desires similar to Bina, bestowal, openness, and the Light can come into us. Hence, walls and windows must match each other precisely so that our house built from the will to receive pleasure would be “equipped” with the intention to bestow. And then, it will be filled with the Light.

If we wish to feel and bring joy while building our house, we must design it so that its form will match the property of Bina. We include the attribute of mercy into judgment, meaning that we make the openings in the walls to let the Light come in through them.

These niches look as flaws to us at first. Rabash gave the following example: A father brings his son to the tailor to get a suit made for him, and the son sees how the tailor starts cutting a roll of expensive fabric with scissors. He feels that the fabric is ruined, but the father explains: “It’s alright; he will make you a suit that will fit well on you.”

In other words, this fabric at the moment is nothing but material that will acquire a shape that will fit you. But the child doesn’t understand. In his opinion, the cuts and the holes in the fabric look like damage. In reality, thanks to this “damage,” we will later give the right shape to it, and the Light will dress in it. Keeping that in mind, we are willing to be patient and even thank the Master for what He is doing!

In our daily work, we discover such new “flaws.” And from them, as from the bricks, we erect a structure, including the walls and the openings for the Light to come through.

When Bina makes a hole in the wall, Malchut feels that the house is damaged. But in truth, it is the opposite approach, a totally new attribute, which isn’t designed to fortify Malchut. Having realized that including mercy into judgment creates equivalence to the Creator in us, we will see the benefit of refusing to hear Malchut’s complaints. When Bina rules over it, all of the house walls can become windows, or acquire the property of Bina.

Such house will be filled with the Light top to bottom. Its material, Malchut, will be purified by Bina’s attribute completely, and there will be no more hollows in it. Without disturbing one another, Malchut and Bina will act as one whole.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/19/10, “Make them Happy with a Complete Building”

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Question: Instead of gaining superpowers, I feel weaker from one day to the next. How can I become a spiritual superman that ascends above his ego?

Answer: First of all you should base everything on the facts. There’s no reason to get scared of the facts because everything comes to us from the Creator, who presents a process to us as a way to learn something.

The Upper Light influences our inner Reshimot, creating inside them the pictures that appear before us. He takes informational data (Reshimot) from us, projects them on our inner screen, and thus we perceive ourselves as being in a specific state.

All of these states have to happen to us on the path. So what’s the problem? Is it the fact that sometimes I feel bad and sometimes I feel good, having completely no power over myself? After all, I am governed by the Light.

Now I am receiving an explanation of how the Light influences me. But who am I? I only observe this work. That is why it is called the Creator’s work. We are looking at it from aside and should use it to learn about what is happening.

Is it unpleasant to know He is operating me? What if I looked at my friend who suddenly cries or feels happy, sometimes he sleeps and sometimes he is rushing off to some place; that would be normal because I would see the Light’s actions operating someone else. But I am not glad to observe how all of this is happening to myself.

On one hand, this is correct. On the other hand, if you start to identify with these actions, with the Creator, and if you desire to justify Him, then you won’t care what passes over you. You identify with the One who operates you and perceive yourself as the material for Him to work on.

Can you detach from this material? Can you say, “This is not me at all. If I am moving, doing something, thinking or desiring something, none of it is me. I identify with the Creator who is doing anything He wishes to this material.” That’s when you can already see yourself from aside.

Now a question arises: Can I ask the Creator to carry out other goal-oriented actions? It’s possible that this will happen, so let’s try. What actions will they be? And for what? What will He hear? What will He want to carry out? I don’t want to ask Him for something vain. If I have already reached a state where I act together with Him against my body, as Moses did with the Creator against Pharaoh, then let me ask for something real. That’s when a person begins this entire process.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/25/10, The Zohar

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