At the Convention we tried to pass the Machsom, to be born into the spiritual world, to acquire a new sense and feel what there is outside the desire for pleasure. This perception is called external because it is aimed at bestowal.

What we found is that this is very difficult. The incoming pressure immediately cooled us down, “freezing” us.  We no longer wanted it, thinking that we were incapable of it. “Anything but this, anything but true unity and the Upper World that is inside it.”

As a result, our expectations did not come true. Egoism, Pharaoh, pushed us back. This enabled us to feel slight hatred for it, to reveal our enemy and hater, to start to understand that without overcoming it, we will not be born. The opponent has been identified and we discern him more and more clearly.

Now we have to carry out several more analogous actions. They will take on a new form each time because nothing is repeated in spirituality. It will seem as if the actions are the same, but they will be felt differently and in the next state we won’t be able to recognize the previous state any longer.

We are talking about the contractions of birth, called “Tzirim” in Hebrew, which is also the word for door hinges. The mother’s womb that we are in resembles the form of the closed letter Mem (ם). Mem is Bina, which closes us between two doors. In Hebrew the word “door” is Dalet. In other words, we are between two letter Dalets (ד), which make up the letter Mem.

During the contractions we push on the doors so they will open by sliding around the hinges. That is how the fetus pushes from the inside in order to come to the outside. (Tzir is a hinge, Tzirim are the hinges of the door, and Rehem is a womb, which comes from the word Rahamim, mercy, the quality of Bina.)

The Pharaoh, our egoism, obstructs our birth, having been deliberately created by the Creator in order to exert the opposite pressure until we acquire a strong enough desire, until we become worthy of seeing and feeling the Creator, the external reality, and to live in it. Otherwise we would be premature and not ready for the new world. It turns out that Pharaoh is a good force. Even though he appears like an enemy to us, in reality his opposition forms a sufficiently strong desire in us in order to open up the doors of the womb and let us emerge to the outside.

We have begun the work that will bring us out from Pharaoh’s power and I am very happy that we have reached this stage. I have waited for it a long time.

The greater the disappointment and the stronger the opposition, the deeper is the despair after a person’s expectations are unanswered and he is thrown back. This is the best thing for a person because his hatred for Pharaoh becomes greater. We have gone through one of the birth contractions. A few more contractions – and we will be born to the Light!

Let us force the speed; this depends on our work. Let the force with which we are dashing forward, and the force of the Pharaoh who pulls us back, unite into one decisive leap toward birth!
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From the lesson on Rabash’s article 11/12/10

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There are two parallel systems of connection between us:

1. The egoistical system, which is the one we experience at the moment.
2. The more internal, corrected system hidden behind the egoistic one. This is our next stage of development. In this system, pre-existing but concealed from us, we are in the intention of Lishma (for Her Sake), and it contains the Light, the Inner Light (Ohr Pnimi).

If we, to the best of our ability, connect to the next state, desiring to attain it, then we draw upon ourselves the influence of the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) that affects us from afar. How do we reach the connection between these two rungs, the present and the future, so that the Surrounding Light will affect us from there? Between them there is a difference, a transition from “Lo Lishma” (not for Her Name) to “Lishma,” and I need the Ohr Makif to perform this transformation in me.

How is it done? We do it by reading The Book of Zohar. This is why Kabbalists wrote books for us. If we strive to reach this Upper system, our more internal, corrected, and close connection, we read about it.

It is irrelevant that while reading it, we understand nothing. This is due to the difference between the rungs (states, worlds). How can I comprehend the Upper World if I am not in it and don’t even exist in relation to it? Of course I’m unable to feel it, and therefore have no understanding of it. But I am reading about it.

Kabbalists wrote about the Upper World in a language I cannot understand, and I look at these letters without any idea of what they say. But I look with an effort, like a child who is trying to understand this world, and through my efforts and desire to know the Upper World, I draw the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) onto myself. This is the whole purpose of reading The Zohar.

Today at our lesson, our friends, representatives of 50 countries, are present with us. Let everyone look at these unfamiliar letters and desire to attain spirituality, and let them hear the words of The Zohar without any comprehension whatsoever. With their desire to learn, to live in it (we are talking about the soul in its more exalted state), by their efforts and yearning, the Light that Reforms, the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif), affects them.

In other words, while reading The Book of Zohar, we have to connect together and wish to feel (as opposed to understand) what The Zohar describes. Then The Book will reveal the screen within us, and on it we will see everything that takes place in the Upper World.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/7/10, The Zohar

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It is a known fact that our efforts and cries alone will not help. They are like a cry of a baby, and there needs to be someone Who will hear it: a mother, Bina, or the Creator.

A cry can only be heard when it is the correct cry, that is, when it is directed towards the true goal of uniting, acquiring of the force of bestowal. This is why we need to connect together in order to create specifically the desire to bestow among us, and then we can scream for the Creator together.

And this is why we read The Zohar together, wishing to connect with one another, even if it is over the Internet, television, or other types of communication. It doesn’t matter that for now our connection is egoistic because each of us is driven by the desire for our own sake (Lo Lishma). We are ready to connect, yet still want to benefit from it. Such is our nature and there is no use in lying to ourselves.

We are egoists, and each one of us understands that he is connecting with others in order to somehow benefit from this. Otherwise, none of us would be able to make the slightest action, and we would not have the energy to connect with others.

But this physical connection (gathering in one place or virtually at the same time in one thought) is the only action allowed to us. This is because for now we are only able to perform physical actions (the so-called actions performed in our egoism).

Besides this action, we need for the Upper Light that Reforms, the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif), to influence our egoistic connection. It is referred to as surrounding (Makif) because it shines from afar, from our next state, from the corrected desires (Kelim), in the “Lishma” desires that have the intention to bestow.

So if we really to try to strive toward it, we will evoke its influence over us because we exist in the world of physical laws of nature (the Creator). We evoke this Light over us by reading The Zohar because we unconsciously connect to our next degree.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/7/10, The Zohar

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Whether we want it or not, we need to learn how to become similar to the Creator, to come closer to Him, and be like Him. The Creator is the Upper Force of nature, and it operates everywhere in the lower nature, affecting all of its parts.

The Creator once broke the creature into the parts in the same way that our world was formed as a consequence of the Big Bang, when a small, upper spark broke through, exploded, and created our entire universe. The same way, the Creator created all the spiritual worlds through the descent of the Light all the way down to our world.

And now an opposite correcting force is beginning to collect all these parts in the spiritual space, and we have no way of avoiding this. Resisting this connection is the same as fighting the forces of nature; it will only bring us suffering until we give up.

If we resist, we will evoke enormous suffering over ourselves, and not just the usual problems with family, life, or health, but horrible epidemics, ecological catastrophes, and even atomic wars as Baal HaSulam wrote about. Everything only depends on our resistance and lack of desire to constantly follow the force of correction in order to better correspond to it.

All of this happens according to a very specific program. When we advance according to it, we feel good and comfortable. When we accelerate the realization of this program and even want to run ahead of it, we feel even better because we attract the Creator with our actions and force Him to do even more by rushing nature, as it is said, “Those who strive towards the Creator hasten time.”

But when we fall behind, our suffering and problems increase to the extent of our delay as they strive to push us to develop. And this is not because the Creator wishes to punish us; rather, this is the way everything operates according to the law of nature!

There is nothing here except the laws of nature, which we can come to understand and see how they push us as if in a force field. The further or closer I get to the place of balance, the force of the field (its intensity) influences me in proportion to the square of the distance, as it strives to return me to balance. For example, I distance myself to one measure and the pressure of force doubles; I distance myself to two measures and the pressure quadruples.

I need to understand that my slightest movement, a tiny step back immediately attracts enormous forces of suffering. This is because any field, whether it is the Light field, magnetic field, or the field of gravity, always operates in a square function. The spiritual field operates the same way. The laws of the Creator are constant.

It is written that the righteous pay double. This is why even a slight deviation to either side causes a huge impact, a positive one or, God forbid, a negative one.
[26182]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/7/10, “The Future Generation”

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The Creator cannot create us complete, equivalent to Himself. Rather, through our own efforts we have to promote gradual development, step by step, up to His level. The Creator’s anticipation is constant, meaning that He always waits for us to exert effort to be similar to Him, like that of a child who wishes to become a grown-up.

All of creation is aimed at the final state of existence; all of creation is the preparation for it. Everything we undergo is aimed at getting us ready for the revelation. What will we reveal? We will find the place where we and the Light are always present, but which is currently concealed from us by our own uncorrected properties. It is as if we dissipate the fog in the place we are in right now.

We have never left it, and the Creator has never gone from it either. We simply lost the ability to feel Him, and He disappeared from our sensations, “puffed into the air.” And now we, ourselves, are preparing to feel Him by constantly exploring within ourselves the quality of bestowal, thus causing the appearance of His image “out of the fog.” Our exit down from Infinity into the corporeal world and our return back to it is our preparation for the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun) of our sensory organs so that we may feel the Creator.

Everything depends on the preparation. Let’s take, for instance, a performance of a symphony orchestra. The uneducated listener will simply not understand where he is. He was hoping to see something interesting, brought a bag of chips and a can of Coke with him, but instead of an expected show, he got the “symphony in B-flat.”

And next to him sits a savvy connoisseur of music who catches every note with ravishing awe. The latter experiences an unforgettable gamut of sensations and the former is unable to fall asleep only because he is too irritated. Everything depends on the preparation. The prepared one enjoys, and the unprepared suffers.

If we experience a negative sensation when we hear about joining in absolute good, it is only because we are not sufficiently prepared. Therefore, now, before the Convention begins, we must be concerned solely about the preparation. Having strengthened the parts of the collective Kli, we will experience the result of our effort in it.

It is as if the Creator is giving us a flattering response, and we must be very serious about it. We build the entire foundation within by ourselves, and on His part, there won’t be any changes since Infinity is invariable. So, will we be able to feel that which already exists?

Ultimately, we need to keep our hearts opened wide, that is, have the correct desire aimed at mutual bestowal. Let us hope that in the coming days we will achieve this.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/7/10,  Rabash, Letter #40

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We do not know in advance what and how to correct, how to assemble ourselves into an integrated system created in the world of Infinity. After all, the Creator wishes for us to be independent so that a person would find the correct formula of mutual integration through his own efforts and experience.

Like little children, we try to connect divided parts, put them together, and take them apart again. Correction and breaking replace one another, and thanks to these efforts we come closer to an understanding that will assure our success.

All in all, four attempts are expected of us because our will to receive consists of four levels of thickness (Aviut). At each of them, we attempt to assemble ourselves, discover our inability to do so, and disassemble the parts in order to start over. Wisdom comes with the experience of errors: First we have to discover the entire depth of the breaking and hatred between us, and then we begin to comprehend what to do with them.

Today, we are facing the last, fourth assembly. We have to find for ourselves the method of correction. But this time, the entire global system is taking part in this process, and we must realize the method on the global scale.

Today, we are unifying over enormous egoism, above the deepest abyss of breaking, hatred, and rejection. According to this magnitude, we discover the power of the method which will allow us to unite again by way of the force that had been planted into Nature and that holds the broken parts together.

It is not we who will link the parts with one another. Our job is solely to be prepared for it and to discern the methods of assembly, the place of each part, and the form of its correct integration in the collective whole.

Our work has just begun. This work is unique, and it leads a person to unprecedented evolution. It is a true challenge.
[26242]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/8/10, Shamati #161

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Question: If friends from different countries were to unite over the Internet, would they generate the same kind of force they would have generated during a physical participation at the Convention?

Answer: Absolutely. We are speaking about forces that are very important to us. We do not yet realize that in the spiritual world, the force comes from quality, not quantity.

The representatives of so many countries and nations create an entire palette (Babylon). They are different, and this difference along with the connection above it is the attainment of our correction. The difference is caused by the breaking of the soul of Adam followed by the flood of Noah and the Tower of Babel or the separation above which we are now uniting.

Every person represents a part of the common whole which is different from everyone else. By gluing these parts together, we correct the breaking, the Creator’s work of “I have created the evil inclination,” with the Light. This is why the virtual participation of all our friends is so important to us. Under no circumstances should they leave us, and they need to be with us at the Convention the entire time.

The number of people gathering in one place does not matter: It could be two hundred thousand or two people, or individual students from all over the world. In the spiritual world, it is not the quantity that matters, but everyone’s individuality.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/7/10, Writings of Rabash

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In order to enter the next degree, I need to desire it since the field of the Upper Force itself does not change. This field of the Upper Force is divided into rungs, and for the time being, I reside at the very bottom, at the level of “this world.”

How do I leap to the next potential level of the “World of Assiya” and keep going higher and higher? We travel in this field in leaps like electrons that leap from orbit to orbit. In order to port from state (orbit) 1 to state (orbit) 2, I need to receive the desire of level 2 and begin wanting to leap to the degree of bestowal.

In other words, in order for the field’s force to accomplish the job of transferring me from level 1 to level 2, passing me from rung to rung, I must start desiring to be in state (orbit) 3 while still being in the state (orbit) 2. I only need to obtain the correct desire, and then the field will carry me over if I correspond to it.

However, how do I start desiring greater bestowal than I possess now so that I may cause a sequential ascent along the 125 spiritual degrees? To accomplish this, I am given the environment. For example, I myself have a desire valued at one unit, but in order to ascend, I need the strength of 10 units. So, if you link with nine friends, you will receive the strength needed for the next degree valued at 10 units. There is no other way.

Therefore, one big soul of Adam HaRishon (the First Man) broke in order to give enveryone an opportunity to absorb the desires of others, to attract the effect of the field, and climb the 125 spiritual degrees, up to the final correction. Only by connecting with the others do we receive the need to ascend. Initially, you are given only one spark, but thanks to it, you have to attach nine more sparks, and then you receive enough strength to jump to the next degree. And it occurs suddenly, like the escape from Egypt.

The same takes place at each degree. As the Aviut (coarseness) of the desire grows from the root (0) level to Aleph (1), Bet (2), Gimel (3), and Dalet (4), the potential energy increases as well, leaping from orbit to orbit (rung to rung): 1, 2, 3, and so forth.

Thus, you reside at the very lowest, 1st state, and at first, you may think that this is life! But later, you suddenly feel that it is exile. In order to understand what it is, you need to clearly “draw” redemption, the next degree, for yourself. After all, you may view redemption as paradise, filled with various treats, or you may think that redemption is a chance to bestow, love, and connect with others.

We realize this discernment in the group. All our work takes place within the soul, either the broken one or the one which we re-assemble with our efforts. If we unite with each other stronger, we generate a more powerful force field and attract weaker particles, helping them to advance. They feel attracted to us for we are have been all linked together starting with the unified soul of Adam. It broke only in relation to us, and although we don’t perceive it, it does exist. We create energy circles around us and attract people.

This is how the field of desire acts, which is the authentic circulation of Kabbalah. These circles permeate all souls, the whole of mankind as one singular force that awakens everybody to the purpose of creation.
[25696]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/2/10, “Exile and Redemption”

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Question: How do I reach the Creator more quickly with my prayer without judging Him?

Answer: The Creator does not care if you judge Him or not. Neither does it matter whether you bless or condemn Him. What is important to Him is that you don’t forget Him. You don’t forget that the Creator exists, that He is Good Who does Good, and that He is the cause of all events of your life.

Therefore, no matter what you are receiving at the moment it is for the best. And not only that, but it also propels you toward the goal. Even if the experience is dreadful, you receive it with the understanding that it is necessary so that from this point you can aim at the goal.

How do I aim myself at the goal? I connect to the group. How do I bond with the group? I do it by performing various actions. What will come out of it? I will receive stronger desires from the group. Yet, it is here where I will realize that I am worth nothing and won’t be able to progress.

The powerful desire received from the group will seem to have caused an opposite response. How can that be? Let’s take a twenty-man military troop, for instance. In this case, everyone receives support from all, and the team, empowered by the strength of twenty, goes into combat.

But in a group of Kabbalists, it is quite different. Instead of multiplying their strength by the strength of the friends and plunging into attack, I feel twenty times weaker while the goal becomes twenty times more profound in my eyes.

We think that we will get stronger having entered the group. In truth, we feel weakened, but at the same time absorb the importance of the goal from the friends. Now I look at the goal as if I am hypnotized, but…clearly see no chance to achieve it.

This is exactly how it is, contrary to what takes place in our world. The group has to support me by demonstrating to me that it is a desirable state. I must come to it, and the Creator “will not knock me off my feet” and “will not beat me cold,” leaving me “dead in the battle field.”

In its time, the scouts sent to the land of Israel got stuck in this kind of trap. All transgressions of the people of Israel (or those who are striving for the Creator) described in the Torah were committed solely because of the people’s inability to evaluate (comprehend) the impressions of themselves, the group, the Creator, and the path to the goal that emerge in them.

Despite the exhaustion, the goal is exalted and profound in our eyes. Now the time has finally come when due to this exhaustion, we have the right to cry out: “Where is the Light? You promised it to us!” The Creator loves when we demand from Him, which is described as, “My sons have defeated Me.” Then, we will receive strength.

In this way, along with weakness and importance of the goal, the group must pass confidence in our success to everyone.
[25873]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/4/10, ““What is the Foundation that Sanctity is Built Upon”

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Question: Why do we start spiritual work in the Torah and commandments with the egoistic intention of Lo Lishma (not for Her Name)?

Answer: Our matter is the evil inclination. It is described as “I created the evil inclination, and I created the Torah as a spice.” It turns out that the evil inclination is coated in some kind of seasoning, as if in some cream. The Torah carries the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) that “tiles” our matter and returns it to the Source. In other words, the Torah is the Light that corrects the intention and re-directs it from aiming at the personal benefit to the benefit of others.

The “evil inclination” is the desire aimed at evil, meaning personal benefit. The Light arrives and turns in into the “good inclination” or desire aimed at the good, the benefit of others.

Thus, the Torah becomes a “spice” since it adds just a “dab” and spices the will to receive with the correct intention. Previously, you were employing it to harm, and now you are using it to do good. As to the commandments, they are actions through which you realize the goal so as to make your desire similar to the Creator.

There is a chain of actions that follow one after the other in small doses, unfolding within you. You carry them out so that in the end, all your desires were aimed at bestowal. Thereby you do, indeed, perform the “commandments” or the Creator’s orders (your internal corrections).
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/4/10, ““What is the Foundation that Sanctity is Built Upon”

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