Question: It is written, “Don’t believe in yourself until you die,” meaning until your egoism dies. How, then, can I be sure that I’ll reach the goal and won’t lose the path?

Answer: I have a spiritual goal and the means to attain it, and I have to hold on to them. I cannot be sure about tomorrow, which is why I have to make a covenant with the group and the Creator today in order to guarantee that I will reach the Upper Goal!

If I can’t manage to stay on the path, then I will fall into the animate existence and will view life from that level. Then the Creator will not take me into consideration at all.

Alternatively, I can bind myself to the group and give myself over to them completely so they will guard me. Then I am tied to the group and I can’t fall, as if I’m on a ship caught in a storm where the sailors tie themselves to the deck so they don’t get washed into the sea by the waves. Every person should see himself as being in such a perilous state.

I have to organize the covenant between us while I am still full of energy and inspiration, while I am in the state of ascent. That’s when I sign the covenant because I understand that later on there might be a time when I won’t be able to justify the spiritual goal. Everything will seem hopeless and bad and I won’t have a doubt that I am right about that.

Therefore, it is written, “Don’t believe in yourself until you die.” If a person doesn’t give himself over to the group so it governs him, then he will be governed by his own egoism and won’t have a chance to break out of it. It’s useless to waste time in vain: Either make the covenant or go back home to sit on the couch.

From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/17/10, Shamati #52

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In order to reach a new degree I need to acquire an additional desire, heaviness of the heart. I can then scrutinized it and make an appeal with a completed prayer by realizing that I cannot remain in this egoism, that what I’m missing is the quality of bestowal. I don’t tell the Creator that I’m feeling bad and ask Him to make things better for me. My prayer can only be this: “It is good that You have given me this evil so that I can understand how to desire bestowal and rise to love of others.”

I don’t ask for the evil to be taken away because it is the only foundation that I can use to build upon, or else I would remain a beast. Instead, I must examine this evil, this sensation of emptiness, so as to recognize it as help against my egoism, compelling me to connect to others.

I give thanks for the “evil” and hope that it stays because otherwise I would fall back into my egoism. But above the evil, I want to build an attitude of bestowal toward everybody else. And therefore, I view the evil as a helper which frees me from my egoistic desires since the feeling of unpleasantness allows me to disconnect from them.

If a person burned himself, then he would no longer want to touch the object that burned him. Similarly, I begin to no longer want these desires and, above them, I build an attitude of bestowal. This requires a new beginning, Rosh Hashanah (A New Year), a state when I no longer desire past fulfillments because I feel them as evil. On the contrary, above it, I now want to build an attitude of bestowal to others. This transformation, the transition from one to the other, is called the Beginning of a New Year.

And then, after verifying that I am unable to do it on my own, I arrive at Yom Kippur, having only the desire but feeling that I lack the strength. That is how I arrive at the prayer, and this is called the Day of Atonement. In this state I don’t judge the Creator, but rather myself because I lack the strength to bestow, and herein lies my sin.

This is what I scream about on Yom Kippur when I atone for all my “sins.” The true meaning of the Day of Atonement is the revelation of the Kli that is ready for correction. It is a turning point on Rosh Hashanah when I decide to reject the old desire, and approach and resolve to strive for bestowal. But in the 10 days from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur I have verified that I am incapable of bestowal. And now for the first time, I turn to the Creator with a genuine appeal and achieve contact with Him.

This appeal reaches Him at last because I do not request fulfillment, only the force of correction. And so I arrive at the gate of prayer.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/15/10, Excerpts on Yom Kippur

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Spiritual work constantly begins anew. We have to understand this, accept it, and be grateful for this new beginning. A person always starts as if he has had nothing before. Everything becomes deleted.

“Nukva always returns to its virgin state.” This means that I don’t retain any life experience on my path to Him; the entire contact with the “Groom” or the Creator disappears. One should not take anything with him from the past. It’s just the opposite: He should pray to receive the ability to forget everything. It’s better if I don’t know anything.

Being in the egoistic desire, we are incapable of imagining how one can reject his experience. However, we don’t need any knowledge. We need a mind only for the purpose of starting from zero each time like from a blank piece of paper. If we are capable of doing this, then we are indeed approaching faith or bestowal.

I don’t need any mind for bestowal. All I need is a pure attitude that doesn’t tie anything to a past state which was corrupt for sure because I have not achieved Infinity and the End of Correction. Therefore, Nukva and Zeir Anpin return each time to their minimal state, a point and six Sefirot.

One needs to learn this as a necessary condition for advancement and try to accept it with understanding, love, and joy when every time he starts from ground zero.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/15/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: Why do people consider Yom Kippur a sad and mournful day?

Answer: It’s because people do not understand that what is perceived as “bad” could be a springboard to good because it is regarded as good or evil depending on one’s attitude. For example, if during a routine visit to a doctor one discovers that he has a disease, then the evil was revealed so that it could be treated. So revealing the evil was good.

However, it is written, “The opinion of common people is opposite to the opinion of the Torah,” and a person pushes himself away from the correction. He does not understand why he needs this. He cries about feeling bad and asks the Creator to make him feel good. That is, he cries about his egoism and whines that the Creator does not fill him. It is as if he asks the Creator “Why are You so bad and cruel? Would it hurt You to let me enjoy?” He does not understand that the revelation of evil is for his benefit, so that he can grow.

Based on a thousand years of our history, we should finally understand that the Creator responds only to a desire that is directed to correction and the goal of creation. Any other appeal is not answered. It is now time to explain to everyone what it actually means to come to the Day of Atonement: to reveal “I created the evil inclination,” then “I created the Torah for its correction,” and finally “because the Light in the Torah reforms.”

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/16/10, Selected excerpts on Yom Kippur

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Yom Kippur, the Day Of Atonement, is a state when the Kli (desire) that we need to correct is revealed. Rabash writes in many articles that a person comes to the Day Of Atonement according to his inner state, which can be revealed without any connection to the onset of the holiday according to the calendar.

Each of us goes through these states in our development, including ascents called Rosh HaShana (the New Year), Yom Kippur (the Day Of Atonement) and others. Yom Kippur is a very elevated state. A great Light has to influence us in order to reveal this degree in us and a whole sequence of actions is required. A person must exert great effort within the group, in our unification, where the breaking once occurred. The place of the breaking is given to us so that we can correct it. Then we will understand what is called correction, what the structure of this place is, and how the Upper Force created and continues to support it. As a result, we discover the Creator.

In order to achieve this, we exert effort according to the main rule of the Torah: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” As Kabbalists advise us, we first actualize it in one or several small groups rather than in all of humanity, since that would be impossible. By trying to realize this rule in the unification between us according to the method of Kabbalists, we go from love for the created beings to love for the Creator and discover to what extent we are not in the quality of love and bestowal.

We are not talking about life in this world and how good or bad we feel. We do not check good and evil according to this, nor do we arrive at The Day Of Atonement in this manner. Only by being in a group, aspiring toward the connection between us, and awakening the Light that Reforms, do I come to see how consumed I am by hatred and rejection with regard to my friends, who are trying to unite in order to reveal the Creator within the group.

I reveal the force of the separation, the force of the breaking in me, and only in regard to this force can I say that I have revealed evil. Then, with this evil, I can come to the Creator and demand correction from Him. The Day Of Atonement then becomes a day of joy because I reveal the ailment of egoism, my own nature that needs to be corrected. I reveal the condition, “I created egoism,” and now I can ask the Creator for the Torah, which is the force to correct it. It is written, “I created egoism and I created the Torah for its correction because the Light in it returns one to the Source” (to the Creator).

First we have to work very hard on the unification between us, and then the Upper Light shines upon us from the level of ELUL (which stands for “I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine”). Then we reach Rosh Hashanah, a state where we desire a new beginning, new changes on the path, unity between us, the birth of a new system or a new human being (Adam) in us. And only after going through all of this do we reach a state where we check all ten of our qualities. On the 10th day after the New Year, which marked the beginning of the new path, we come to the Day Of Atonement.

At that point, on one hand we are truly in a state of complete despair and lack of strength, and on the other hand we experience great joy because we can now finally cry out to the Creator asking Him to help us with the complete confidence that He will help us. We have this confidence because we have already checked ourselves and reached the realization that we all dwell only in evil, unable to do anything about it. But now, by virtue of the connection between us, we have the confidence that the Creator is helping us and is just waiting for this very moment.

Baal HaSulam writes that “There is no happier moment in a person’s life than when he discovers how absolutely powerless he is and loses faith in his own strength since he exerted all the possible efforts that he was able to, but reached nothing. This is because precisely at this moment, during this state, he is ready for a complete and clear prayer to the Creator!” This moment is called the Day Of Atonement. From this moment on, a person can be sure that he will receive the Light of Correction.

From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/15/2010, “Yom Kippur”

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Our entire work lies in finding the right attitude to the states we receive. While doing this work, we gradually begin to break ourselves up into two components:

1. My desire, in which I perceive various phenomena, such as good and evil,

2. The mind, in which I discern Who sends me my sensations and with what purpose.

To the degree I am able to analyze my states independently of the sensation "good or bad," I am able to understand these states and justify them in spite of my sensation. I can desire them for the sake of revealing the quality of bestowal, the Creator, even though the revelation of every new state means that I will first feel suffering due to the revelation of a new, empty desire.

My attitude to this empty desire can change my sensation of its emptiness. The sensation of the goal, a connection with the Creator, can put me in high spirits that will greatly exceed my sensation of suffering.

That is why we have the opportunity to ascend above the unpleasant sensations in our intentions, in our sensation of the connection with the Creator. We can justify all of creation so greatly that precisely this gap will help us ascend above the unpleasant sensations and even elicit their revelation in order to ascend even higher above them.

We cannot change any state in our development, but we can ask for the understanding of how goal-oriented and good they are, above our will to enjoy.

That is how we can accelerate our development and go through the states of descent in such a way that we won’t feel they are descents, but a reason to ascend. Everything depends on our attitude to what happens to us.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/16/2010,  “What is the Matter of Sufferings in the Work”

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When we read The Book of Zohar, we try to create a common space where we aspire to connect our points in the heart. This is the meaning of “studying the Torah.” It’s impossible to "study the Torah" without such an intention.

The point in the heart is “Israel.” "Isra-El" translates as “aspiring to the Creator.” Through the study, we want to attain the Torah: the Light that corrects us. Then, we reveal the Creator in the connection between us. In that connection and, accordingly, in revealing the Creator, there are 125 degrees, or 5 worlds, 5 Lights of NaRaNHaY.

Our world is the total lack of connection from which we commence our efforts to unify. The end point of unification between us is called the “World of Infinity.”

This is how the entire system of the common Soul, called Adam Ha Rishon, Shechina, or Malchut of Infinity is revealed. The form of this spiritual vessel (Kli) is called “the Creator” (Kadosh Baruch Hu): the quality of love and bestowal.

Everything exists within this system. The entire science of Kabbalah speaks only of how to reveal the Creator in accordance with the law of equivalence of form, as it is written, “From love of the created beings to love of the Creator.” By uniting together, we create a system between us which matches the Upper Force of bestowal.

This is the picture we must always have in our heads when we read The Book of Zohar. I must always check where I am on this ladder of connection between us, what The Zohar speaks of right now, whether I want to unite with others or I resist, and what is it that’s stopping me. The whole time I think of one thing only: how I (Israel) am connected with the others through a force which unites us (the Torah). Within our correct connection, I reveal the true quality of bestowal: the Creator.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/14/10, The Zohar

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Question: If “there is none else beside Him” and everything is done only by Him, then why am I considered to be a sinner?

Answer: When the evil becomes revealed to me for the first time, this is not yet considered to be my sin. However, if after having discovered an evil desire within, I still plan on using it, now this goes on my account. When this happens for the second time, it is considered to be a sin. It is like repeatedly tasting the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. However, it is only when this happens for the third time that I am considered to be a real sinner. The second time is only the revelation that I exist in evil.

Let’s say, I committed a crime, but this was my very first time. Even courts take this into consideration as extenuating circumstances. I am given a light punishment as a warning to help me never do anything like this again. In other words, I am given the force of correction.

However, when, regardless of the correction that I am given in accordance with the transgression, I still repeat the crime because the criminal desire that awakens in me is even greater than the punishment or fear of a crime, this means that I have really sinned.

When I transgress for the first time, the magnitude of my evil is revealed to me. For now, this is not called a sin. The second time, I reveal how big of a crime against the Creator it is, and I am given a punishment for it that is slightly greater than the sin.

If I now reveal this kind of desire in me for the third time, and the desire is even bigger than before, then this difference is called "the evil inclination" because it is in it that I go against the Creator. This is the force of the Pharaoh within me. Now, this is a real sin. It is there where I need to repent and ask for forgiveness. Now I am undoubtedly a sinner.

The first time is merely the creation of a vessel (the desire). The second time is the evaluation of my sin. While the third time is the true crime, it is only as the result of this crime that the appeal for correction appears.

However, the most important part is that all of this is only possible through the Surrounding Light which comes in the form of a “group” or the connection within which the Creator exists. This means that “Israel (one who strives toward the Creator), Torah (the Light of correction), and the Creator are one."

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/14/10, “Preparation for the Reception of Torah”

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“Repentance” means that I felt that I have sinned, but was still unable to proceed by the correct path. I didn’t ask the Creator for the strength to rise above pleasant or unpleasant sensations and to always relate to Him as to the One who does good. I couldn’t bear this and descended.

Now, in order to ascend again, I need the “awakening from below” and the “awakening from Above.” For this purpose, a special stimulation comes during particular periods of time called holidays such as the month of ELUL, which is an abbreviation for “I am for my beloved, and my beloved is mine.” This stimulation leads to new decisions, sensations, and impressions.

And then I ask for correction of the sins that did not allow me to achieve goodness, rise, request the force of faith, and advance spiritually. Instead, they led me to a descent which, of course, was planned by the Creator. Is it necessary for me to constantly stumble and fall? Yes, it is. There is no other way. As it is written, “The righteous will fall a thousand times and rise again.”

The sensation of a sin, even for the second time, is still insufficient in order to advance and feel it in all of its depth. The first time, I merely feel how the Light barely touches the vessel and creates a desire in me. The second time, I am shown the screen against my desire to enjoy. When I sin for the third time, I begin to reveal the attitude to the Creator above the desires.

Therefore, there is no other choice: Everyone must become the complete wicked. Otherwise, it is impossible to be corrected and become the complete righteous. Only impurity turns into sanctity. However, it is only possible to become wicked if one has an aspiration to become righteous.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/14/10, “Preparation for the Reception of Torah”

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A “sin” is determined by whether or not you ask the Creator for the strength to rise above your sensations of “good” and “evil.” The first time you do something is not a sin! Maybe you have not yet discerned good and evil and your attitude to Him. However, if you do it a second time, it becomes a sin. And if you repeat it a third time, you descend from your degree; you cannot remain on it any longer.

With the first interaction of the pleasure and the desire, a desire for the pleasure (a vessel, Kli) is created. At the second interaction of the pleasure and the desire, one receives a feeling of transgression (a sin), reception for one’s own sake. But if one receives pleasure in the desire for a third time, then it not only indicates the performance of a sin, but also shows that the sensation of the sin was not sufficient in order to refrain from it.

This can be likened to a situation where the sentence ruled by a court is weaker than the criminal desire and, therefore, does not reform one from stealing in the future. And then a decision is made to conceal me in the prison of this world.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/14/10, “Preparation for the Reception of Torah”

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