From Rabash’s article “Who is He Who Causes Prayer?”: A person must say: “If not I, who will help me, and if not now, then when?” Therefore, it is forbidden to slow down even for a moment, and we cannot await a more appropriate time to begin engaging in spiritual work.

This means that we should always be ready to turn to the Creator with an appeal and to constantly clarify and refine it, until it receives a reply.

However, after one’s action, one should believe that it is not man who calls out to the Creator, but on the contrary, the Creator summons him. And the reason for their closeness comes from the Creator rather than from man…Thus, before praying, one must first thank the Creator for summoning one in order to bring one closer to Him.

In this manner we establish ourselves directly along the line, where the Light spreads out to us in all of its stages. And if I remember, understand, feel, and hold onto the thought that spiritual awakening comes to me from the Creator, it means that I already have an initial connection. With the help of this initial spiritual awakening from the Creator, I can appeal back to the Creator with my own request.

Thanking the Upper Force for the awakening that it sent to me means to enter into the first contact with it, choosing the only correct direction to the Creator: from all directions, a “full 360 degrees.” Making the choice of this direction is the first action that we are able to carry out.

This is similar to the parable about the King’s son who dug a tunnel under his father’s house in order to take a pound of gold from the father. And this tunnel was from two sides – from the inside and from the outside because the father, in turn, was also digging a tunnel toward him with the desire to give sooner.

In other words, the Creator first gives us an awakening, and a prayer is born inside us. However, this prayer will not be a simple request; a real desire will be revealed in us, and in response to this desire we will be given the force of bestowal from Above.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/10, Article, “Who is He Who Causes Prayer?”

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We are created from the material of “the desire to enjoy.” Therefore, we need energy in the form of “pleasure” in order to perform any physical or mental action. In other words, nothing moves in our world without an egoistic stimulus. Consciously or unconsciously, we weigh everything in our “desire to enjoy,” and in the assessments of this desire each thing acquires “its own” qualities: color, weight, height, and distance.

In order to be successful in this world, we need to have the right scale of values, or in other words, the right set-up of “the desire to enjoy.” And this is what we teach our children: to strive for the good things and to avoid the harmful things. To distance oneself from evil means not to have the energy to work for it.

However, there is no motivation in our “desire to enjoy” for reaching the spiritual, “the desire to bestow”! After all, the spiritual world is opposite to me; it is the desire to bestow rather than to receive pleasure. This attribute doesn’t exist in me at all. Therefore, I do not feel the spiritual world. I can “see” only what I evaluate in “the desire to enjoy” as more or less valuable, determining it as something close and important to me or distant and insignificant.

In spirituality, “the quality to bestow,” all the criteria, thoughts, and actions are based only on bestowal. Yet my “desire to enjoy” does not understand what that is. Bestowal passes through me like an invisible illumination, which I do not sense in any way. Whole worlds and actions are performed beside me, and I do not notice them in my “desire to enjoy” just like an animal doesn’t understand the sensations of a human being.

What can I do if I am created this way? All the worlds and most importantly the One who controls me, the Creator Himself, remain unnoticed by me! In order to feel them, I need to begin to value “the quality of bestowal.”

This is why we are given the environment: the books, the teacher, and the friends so that they will instill the importance of bestowal into me. Although I personally don’t think so, they tell me this, and their opinion is important to me. I am created to absorb the influence of the environment, and what is important to the people that surround me becomes important to me.

Thus, even bestowal, which is of no value to me, begins to be important if everyone talks about it. It becomes important in my “desire to enjoy” as a good acquisition. I am willing to exert effort to attract the Upper Light which brings me “the desire to bestow” because this is important to my “desire to enjoy.” In Kabbalah this is called spiritual work for oneself, Lo Lishma.

However, the Upper Light that I draw changes me and replaces “the desire to enjoy” with “the desire to give enjoyment” (from Lo Lishma to Lishma). I then enter the perception of the Upper World.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/30/10, Shamati #15

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Question: How does a person learn to raise a prayer (a request to the Creator) correctly?

Answer: A person’s entire work is aimed at knowing how to correctly respond to the Creator’s calling when the Upper Light affects him.

I am separated from the Creator by five stages (five worlds) of emanation of Light (0-1-2-3-4), and I begin to receive impressions from it in the last, 4th stage, where I am able to comprehend “what and how.” However, if I haven’t reached the 4th stage, I don’t yet understand that my awakening comes from the Creator and I do not reciprocate with a request. Even when our point in the heart (a desire to attain something greater, something spiritual) is awakened, we still do not understand where to go, what we are supposed to do, and Who it is that is calling. We simply start searching for the purpose and cause of our life.

In other words, what is really evoked is a question about the Creator but the person does not yet realize it. When he starts studying the science of Kabbalah, it becomes more clear to him what, or rather Whom, he is asking about. A person discovers that there is Some One who awakens him and who wants the person to respond to Him.

There are only two: the Creator and the creature. The world as we see it seems to us to be a certain way in order to help us project ourselves back to the Creator. It is written: “The whole world is created to help me, and I am created to serve the Creator.” The theater in front of our eyes that we call “our world” was created to help us focus our perception and reaction to find the Director who runs the entire show.

Finally, when amidst all this bewilderment and confusion we focus on Him, we find the right direction and learn how to communicate to Him correctly. We discover what our request should be (in terms of strength, concentration, and content) in order to deserve a response. Therefore, we should not neglect the world, especially the immediate environment, studies, and the friends in the group. We should use each moment of our lives to better discern the root point from where the Creator’s call comes, and through this “portal” send back a response.

If I manage to arrange my prayer (request to the Creator) correctly, from below Upward, I will understand that everything has its purpose in the world without which I would not be able to establish contact with the Creator.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/10, Article, ““Who is He Who Causes Prayer?”

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Nature is divided into several levels: still, vegetative, animate, and speaking. Likewise, mankind consists of them as do each of us individually. These four levels represent the four stages of evolution of our will to receive for our own benefit.

We are led through these stages by envy, lust, and ambition: from desiring wealth to desiring power, and from desiring power to desiring knowledge. This is how we evolve from level to level. The greater a person’s ascent, the more opportunities nature provides for him to err and deviate from the truth. In fact, the more advanced a person is, the more diverse qualities he develops which makes him more vulnerable and open to various influences.

The poor are mostly pre-occupied with their welfare and the money of the wealthy. The “heroes” who strive for power are dependent on the opinions of others, while the “wise-men” who crave knowledge are filled with doubts and keep looking for something as they are never satisfied.

The more evolved a person is, the greater the chance that he faces the challenge of being pulled by some foreign idea and away from the straight, short route to the goal, which is adhesion with the Creator. In the “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Baal HaSulam writes that the wholesome desire of the advanced people breaks and they start chasing wealth, power, and fame, thereby forgetting that it is the end of the “person.” At this point, only luck and “protection from Above” can help.

We know that there were people who possessed a true (spiritual) desire, but even they eventually expired under the weight of earthly pursuits. Therefore, you must scrupulously examine your desire: Are you absolutely certain that the goal is important to you, so important that the rest of the world doesn’t exist?

The Creator assists the person on his path, but only if the person lives in constant awe and is afraid to deviate from the right track. This spiritual fear brings him assistance from Above. In this state, a person understands that his soul is in the hands of the Creator.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/29/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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Question: If you were to choose from the three different times: the time leading up to a Congress, the time during it, or the time after the congress, which is the most effective time?

Answer: One period is impossible without the others! If I don’t receive great inspiration during a Congress, and if I don’t descend after it, then I will have nothing over which to ascend and no strength to ascend. I am talking about an ascent to the next degree.

Every ascent is based on 1.) receiving the strength from the environment, receiving the greatness of the goal and the Creator during a Congress, 2.) revealing new egoistic desires (descents) right after a Congress, and 3.) making the effort to rise above the desires and finding the strength that we receive, drawing closer together, getting involved in the routine of the work, and preparing for the next Congress as quickly and intensely as possible.

Before a Congress we are constantly preparing ourselves for the forthcoming meeting; we get ready to unite. We prepare to receive an impression from such a great number of people around us during the Congress so that they can influence each of us as much as possible, and so that everyone will be in awe from the impressions they receive. After all, the only freedom of will consists in absorbing the strength from the environment.

The influence of the environment is the only means for a spiritual ascent. The more inspiration I absorb from the others during a Congress, the greater the degree that I can then ascend to by realizing this inspiration. It should become my own, constant sensation of belonging to the common desire (Kli).

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/10,"Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot"

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Question: Every time I try to focus on the lesson, I discover that I am distracted by countless irrelevant thoughts. What should I do?

Answer: Everything comes from the Creator and is called the “awakening from Above” (Itaruta de-Leila). If the Upper Force instills bad thoughts in you along with the good ones, it is similar to a flood that carries a lot of filth in it. When you attempt to filter the water, the debris rises to the surface. However, it is necessary for you to filter out the “filth” and realize what you are carrying. Therefore, drawing Light that Reforms brings out the sensation of “filth,” showing you how much you still need to correct.

A Kabbalah beginner does not understand the reason behind it all and gets confused; he yearns for the good but experiences terrible states. He does not yet have the inner power to conquer them, nor does he comprehend what is happening. Why then should he undergo such conditions? It is necessary because “no one is as wise as the experienced.” Through continuous study, a person will feel that all such states are necessary.

It can be the other way around, that a person does not experience “filth,” non-spiritual desires and thoughts. This is a sign of the inability to draw the Light that Reforms, which discerns the uncorrected desires that one needs to acknowledge as “bad” and  in need of correction. One must ask for their correction, not their annihilation.

Hence, when we read Kabbalistic texts and feel bad, it is a sign that we are on the right track, and that the Torah serves us as the “potion of life” because it reveals our inner ailments that we need to correct. If, on the other hand, we felt good, confident, proud, and superior, it would be a sign that the Torah serves as the “potion of death,” allowing us to slumber in our egoism and feel more and more satisfied.

Thus, we should rejoice that during our studies, our inner “sinners” become disclosed. This means that the Torah is showing us and correcting our evil; indeed, as it is written: “I created the evil inclination and granted the Torah to correct it.” This is how a person can verify whether he is moving in the right direction toward awareness of his evil egoism within.

The longer we study, the more aware we become that evil resides within us, and our priority is to correct it. With regard to the rest of the world, we should pray for its awakening and basically justify it (“Ladun Kol Echad Le Kav Zhut”).

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/10, The Zohar

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Question: When a person is surrounded by the big group where he is supported and cared for during his downfall, it is great. But what about the others, who are separated and live far away from the nearest Kabbalah group, in spiritually foreign surroundings such as in Europe for instance?

Answer: We think that physical proximity has a positive impact on spirituality, but it isn’t necessarily so. If a person exerts great effort in order to progress and achieve contact wherever he is, he always gains more than when he moves faster and closer to where the others are. It is always more useful to try to connect with the others from a distance for at least six months. We should not focus on the bodies that surround us, but should try to see the spiritual states through them.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/10, “Introduction in the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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Question: What comprises the parts of our spiritual path?

Answer: The spiritual ascent consists of several parts: the development of the Universe, the evolution of Earth, and spiritual correction which began with the breaking of a part of humanity (the nation of Israel from the time of Babylon until the destruction of the Second Temple), the continuing development of humanity to our times, up to the beginning of the crisis between humanity and nature (the Creator).

Starting with this latter stage, the crisis, gradually all people will start feeling a need to rise above the level of our world and attain the purpose for the world’s existence and for everything that happens in it. This will bring them to the science of Kabbalah which was revealed back in Ancient Babylon.

Everything comes down to replacing our nature with an Upper one, to replacing egoism (the desire to receive for one’s own benefit) with altruism (the desire to bestow). This process occurs in stages, by attaining 125 degrees. However, a person goes through an initial period of preparation within the group, through the theoretical study of spiritual qualities, and by examining one’s egoistic nature. When, under the influence of that environment, a sufficiently powerful desire emerges in him to replace egoism with bestowal to others, the common force of nature, the Upper Light, will change him. Then one begins to experience worry (fear) about others, much like a mother does in relation to her child.

But this is still only an ascent above egoism. Subsequently, follows the stage of acquiring the quality of love where a person is willing to give everything to others as they become more dear to him than he is to himself. During this stage a person begins to feel and merge with the Creator because he becomes equal to Him through his actions.

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The Zohar, Chapter “Lech Lecha (Go Forth),” Item 153: NR are not two separate degrees from one another. Rather, they are one degree, and they are two that are conjoined. And there is one that is superior who governs them and clings to them, and they to her. And she is called Neshama.

The Zohar tells us how, after achieving the first spiritual contact, we intensify this connection and see the subsequent manifestations of spirituality in it. Then we feel not only the first degree of unification called Nefesh (N), a state of rest (Nefisha), and the ability to maintain ourselves in this connection, but also the common great life, which is revealed from within the point of our first contact as another higher, deeper dimension called Ruach (R).

If we do not reach the first contact, the place of our unification, we will not reveal the entrance to the upper dimension (the quality of bestowal). Yet, when we establish this contact among us, the Upper Light begins to affect it. It reveals it, and we enter a completely different dimension through it: the spiritual world.

Everything that happens within this connection is called the spiritual world. First it seems to us that attaining this universal connection between people promises us a good life, safety, and pleasant sensations. However, that is not all! Within this common point, an entrance into the spiritual world is revealed.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/27/10, The Zohar

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Question: What does “crossing the Machsom” mean?

Answer: To cross the Machsom (the barrier separating us from spirituality) means to feel the reality within. The “point in the heart” emerges and gains the minimum “volume” (10 Sefirot). In these Sefirot, I begin to perceive and feel a new reality. I feel how the Light enters and exits me and causes various sensations. It starts with minimal changes in perception and understanding, but I’m able to see what’s occurring “within.” With regard to our world, I begin to see it on the background of the new (spiritual) world.

Such duality of existence is not an obstacle. On the contrary, it allows me to feel and understand the relationship between the two worlds, the branch and the root. Within my point in the heart, I sense various actions no matter how small. I still don’t understand what it means when the Light enters and exits, but I feel that something comes and goes repeatedly. I don’t yet comprehend exactly what is happening just like a newborn who feels but doesn’t know what is going on.

Suppose a light turns on and off. A newborn doesn’t know that it is called light and dark, but he observes some phenomenon. To me, as the Light enters and exits, it gives a sensation of the Upper reality (as the Light enters) and our world as its mere imprint (as the Light exits). Further on, I begin to orient myself in it better and better to the degree of my ability to develop similar properties.

From Mega Congress Lesson 5, 7/25/10

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