The Zohar, Chapter “Lech Lecha (Go Forth),” Item 4: The two lines that were moist and mingled with one another have not been frozen by the middle line, which is Tifferet, and will no longer mingle with one another.

Only two lines descend to us from Above. Our job is to realize the Reshimot (informational records) that manifest in us and construct the middle line for them. The two lines – the left and the right, the property of mercy (Rachamim) and that of judgment (Din), bestowal and receiving – influence the Reshimot.

Both of them impact me and my Reshimo. My task is to realize both forces in an optimal way by using the Reshimo. This is what is called the middle or third line. My job is to use both forces that I receive from the Creator in the proper way within myself.

How do I recognize these forces? How do I find ways to connect them together? In any state, along the entire ascent until achieving complete correction, I have Reshimot that must be realized. My next state is already given to me; I don’t have to search for it. All I have to do is learn how to connect both forces together and how to organize my next state in the most optimal way in order to become similar with the Upper One at every given moment.

The Creator shaped both forces that come to me from Above. My job is to build a form from myself that is similar to Him with the help of these two forces and Reshimot. I have all the instruments handy: the engine (Reshimot) and “plus” and “minus” (the two lines). I only have to know for which purpose I “ignite” the system.

All the tools are already available to me. I only have to add my own effort. Yet my work has to be applied not towards the construction of my new state, but rather to the realization of what I do and why I do it. By acting this way, I become similar to the Creator.

Often times we think that we have to correct or build the whole world. But in fact, all we are required to do is to concentrate on a very easy task. Even though our work is extremely simple, it actually changes the entire reality.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/12/10, The Zohar

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We feel reality if two forces come from Above and act upon something common between them. If they can activate a Reshimo (informational record) to reveal it within us, then they enter it. The Reshimo forms a picture of the world, my state, and then I feel it.

On the other hand, if these two forces are unable to reach the Reshimo in order to activate it and they do not bring it into play, I do not feel the reality. It simply does not exist for me. My whole existence, the whole picture of the world, every state in which I feel myself and the world that surrounds me, is a Reshimo that is activated due to these two forces: the right and the left, reception and bestowal. Like a robot, I feel the realization of the Reshimo within me.

If these forces activate a Reshimo on their own, it means that I have no freedom of will and I exist in this world while being controlled like an animal. All of our reincarnations, our whole history, and our entire development in this world occur in this manner. These two forces constantly affect the Reshimot (plural of Reshimo), showing us this movie of life, scene after scene.

However, life gradually becomes more difficult for me. I’m expected to activate the Reshimo on my own with the help of the two forces; I’m expected to become the middle line, adding my attitude to the influence of the two forces on the Reshimo.

Then, how I see my state and the whole world depends on me. And the only change I wish to see in the world is the presence of the Creator, the force of bestowal and love. In this manner, I realize the Reshimo. This time, it is through my own participation and with the revelation of the Creator, which occurs to the extent that I desire to draw Him into my world.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/12/10, The Zohar

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The Zohar, Chapter “Lech Lecha (Go Forth),” Item 4: When the Creator created the world, He made the heaven from fire and water, and they were mingled together and did not freeze. Afterward, it froze and stood in the upper Ruach. This is so because in the order of elicitation of the Mochin, first the two lines—right and left—come out. These are the two points—Holam and Shuruk, which are called “water” and “fire.”

The two lines come to us from Above. Indeed, there are only two forces in creation: the Light and the desire to enjoy that it created. It is only when they unite that all of reality is constructed. Hence, the two forces or properties – the Light’s desire to bestow and the vessel’s desire to enjoy – descend to us from Above, from the Creator. Our task is to react to them appropriately through uniting them within us by creating the middle line.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/12/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: If a Reshimo (spiritual informational record, gene) is a new state or desire that is given to us from Above, then how can our intention change this state?

My Answer: While in a present state, I feel that I can change it. This need to change my perception of the world is roused in me by the Reshimo about the future state. It encompasses all the future states, leaving me just an opportunity to realize it in the property of bestowal or that of reception.

Why do I feel that I have an opportunity to reach the next state? It is because I have a Reshimo de Hitlabshut (information about the Light) and Reshimo de Aviut (information about the desire). The Reshimo de Hitlabshut, information about the next state,  is more elevated than the Reshimo de Aviut: 4/3, 3/2, 2/1, 1/0.

A part of the next state is always present in me. Due to this part, I can realize it (pull myself up to it). In this manner, I achieve changes.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/12/10, The Zohar

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I received a letter from someone who is complaining that he doesn’t understand anything in the lesson on the Talmud Eser Sefirot. He is outraged at the fact that we suddenly “skipped over” to the middle of the text, to Part 7 in order to study about the breaking of the Kelim (which is a custom Kabbalists observe before the 9^th of Av, the day the Temple was destroyed), instead of talking about correction. And generally speaking, he heard that the Talmud Eser Sefirot is intended for people who already have spiritual attainment and that Kabbalists wrote these texts only for each other.

And indeed, Baal HaSulam does say in Item 154 of Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot that Kabbalists write these texts for those who already have spiritual attainment and who understand what the text talks about. Otherwise you will not understand a word of it. If you do not feel the text inside you and experience it as actions taking place within, you won’t understand a word.

It is only possible to understand it with the heart, the desire in which all of this takes place. But if a person still doesn’t have the desire that is able to perform actions of bestowal, then obviously he does not understand a word of what is written.

Nevertheless, Baal HaSulam created Talmud Eser Sefirot in order for it to work as a remedy, on the condition that we desire to attain the state where we will feel it within us, when “man’s soul will teach him.” It is impossible to study the spiritual world theoretically, with your mind. Kabbalists can only advise us on how to ascend to it. When the student does, he reveals the Upper World for himself, and his soul teaches him. Only when a person attains this level does he begin to feel and understand what is being discussed!

It is impossible to study without feeling because man lives by feeling inside desire. We have to study what happens inside our desire in order to feel it inside. Then we will read the book and it will explain to us what we are feeling. It will also teach us how to discern a multitude of shades of feeling inside us.

The science of Kabbalah is the science of knowing yourself. Therefore, it is natural that at first a person does not understand anything. You have to try to attain the sensation! We do not study in order to memorize the text by heart or to understand it theoretically. Our only goal is to attract the Light that Reforms.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/13/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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“We come into the King’s city [this world] all together.” Those who work faithfully for the Creator turn His “magic powder” into sweet, refined seasoning. And those who do not do the work keep tasting the bitter powder and they cannot enjoy His feast.

Everything depends solely on the correct effort of a person. There are many who come to study Kabbalah, put a lot of effort into it, but eventually leave. They realize that this feast doesn’t satisfy their tastes, and instead of blaming themselves, they blame the King, thinking that the method of Kabbalah, as well as, the group and friends give them a bitter taste. As a result, they leave thinking that they can find more pleasure elsewhere by either taking it easy or using some other methodology.

It all depends on whether a person realizes what ‘’place of work” he has entered, what responsibility rests on him, and what he should aim at in this work in order to taste the sweet flavor. The feast is set before us! It is written: “Taste and see that the Lord is good!” We only need to “taste” Him, meaning that we must prepare our vessel for His Light and receive this “supplement,” a sweet flavor.

But people do not labor in the correct place, and later they look at the clock to see how much time they have spent and they weigh how much effort they have exerted. But they did not put their effort in the most important work: in uniting with the other souls. This is why the work does not taste good for them. As a matter of fact, the sweet taste comes solely through connection, which is that very vessel where the Light is revealed.

Instead, they labored elsewhere in vain. It is as if you worked for one company for a month and at its end, you went to another company to collect your salary. Do you think they will pay you? You haven’t earned the right Kli, the vessel needed to receive the reward. The reward can only be received in the collective vessel because only there is the Creator, His feast, His Light, revealed. And if a person has not exerted an effort to earn that, his work is worth nothing.

We must be focused and alert regarding this. Everyone should examine himself: Does he understand that all his effort should be concentrated solely in achieving inner connection, and uniting toward one goal, one desire, where the Creator will be revealed? If a person aims at this, the “feast” will gradually begin to taste sweet for him. And if not, he will eventually get tired and disappointed in this work because instead of the sweet taste, he will taste “dust,” the “bitter powder,” and leave.

Such a person wonders, “How long can one work without receiving something in return?” But he does not see that he labors in the wrong place, that he is not working where he is supposed to be. It becomes evident in one’s attitude to the group and friends whether or not he is present in the group and works in it.

This effort cannot be substituted either with money or with professional skills. Only if you work for the unity of the souls, does this “bitter powder,” the concealment, fall away, and will you uncover the spiritual world which is right here, next to you. Until then, you simply have not gotten the inner device, the Kli, that allows you to tune into the spiritual world, like a radio that can tune into the right frequency.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/9/10, Baal HaSulam, Letter 26, pg. 85

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A fable from Baal HaSulam’s Igrot (Letters), Letter 26, pg. 85: A great good King had one purpose: to give pleasure to the citizens of his kingdom. He gave them an order to do work for him for a year and designated a special place for it in his palace. The reward was set up at the place of work where the King prepared meals with an abundance of various delicacies.

They all started to work and thought that the King would put guards over them to watch their work, but the King hid himself, and they could do as they pleased. They were not aware of the King’s invention, a seasoning, the healing powder that gave all the dishes filled with delicacies and sweets a bitter unpleasant taste. But in the place where people did work, this seasoning made the food taste divine!

Those who where loyal to the King, did the work as they were told and carried out the orders precisely, even without being watched. Thus, the healing dust filled their bodies. When the time of feast came, the workers were able to taste countless flavors and the sweetness they had never known before. So they constantly praised and thanked the King.

But those low workers who didn’t recognize the greatness of the King and that they should love him faithfully (because no guards were watching over them), disregarded the place of work and chose to work where it was more pleasant. So when the time of feast came, the food tasted horribly bitter because of the magic dust. They started to curse and berate the King and his feast because he prepared such a bad reward for their exertion. And for them, the King became a great liar for he gave them bitterness and salt instead of delicacies and sweets.

From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/9/10, Baal HaSulam, Letter 26, pg. 85

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Everything that the Kabbalists tell us about occurred in their sensations. However, it is also happening within me, within my matter (Kli), yet I don’t perceive it! I need to receive the properties of the very processes that I wish to perceive, and then I will be able to sense them.

All actions described in The Study of the Ten Sefirot occur within us; infinite numbers of actions take place each moment. And yet, we don’t perceive them for we exist “without (spiritual) consciousness.” Likewise, in the corporeal world, I am being washed over by countless waves. Transmitted by numerous electronic devices, millions of telephone conversations and all television and radio channels pass right through me. We can recognize these frequencies with the help of various devices.

Similarly, we reside in the spiritual environment where activities described by the Kabbalists are constantly occurring. We have to learn to perceive them. We have to develop a sensibility toward bestowal. We need to be able to determine what it is, whom to bestow to, based upon what, what reward comes with it, and whether it is worth doing or not.

If I start analyzing it, I will develop a sensor within myself which will be able to recognize the properties of bestowal. As a result, I will begin to “hear” frequencies of bestowal like radio waves. I will “grow” a transmitter capable of receiving various types of frequencies of bestowal that are called the Lights. Through these Lights, I will start perceiving the sources they are coming from, where they are headed, toward whom, and for what purpose. And last but not least, I will come to know that this broadcasting station that is generating these waves is the Creator! But this will become possible only if I build a receiver (“radio”) within me, which can “read” such properties.

As a matter of fact, according to the law of equivalence of form (resonance), in order to receive these frequencies, I have to create a similar one within myself. In these internal and external waves, there is one common characteristic: “the carrier wave.” In the external wave, however, there is one more, accompanying wave, which is embedded into the main one; it is the latter that carries information to me.

By creating a wave of the same frequency (for instance, 93 MHz) in your “radio” (your soul), you will be able to receive the external signal (the Creator), to discern the “valid signal:” a wave (a voice, song, or message of the Creator).

The spiritual radio runs on the same principle as a corporeal one does since nature doesn’t change. We and the Creator need a common ground, this (93 MHz) frequency wave, the force of bestowal, overlaid with a tiny signal for your reception. This signal enters you, and you receive it. When you align yourself with the incoming wave in its property of bestowal, it brings a minor additional attribute for your ability to receive, the Light of Hochma that fills you.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/8/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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Everyone knows what prayer is. It exists in all the religions and cultures. People turn to each other with prayer begging for something. Prayer can be directed at people or at the Upper Force (however a person imagines it).

Prayer contains great power because when a person feels that he is in a dead-end situation, a true prayer for help bursts forth by itself. This is a natural reaction that we call prayer, a plea, or a cry. There is also a prayer of gratitude that pours out of the heart. This action awakens enormous inner reserves of a person and brings about healing, the ability to overcome obstacles that seem insurmountable.

However, in Kabbalah “prayer” is not just any plea, but a request for correction, for attaining the goal of creation. Prior to our fall from the sensation of the Creator, we did not have prayer books because people felt the Creator and every person turned to Him from the heart, according to the verse, “A person’s soul teaches him. “Every person knew what he needed to discern and what he needed to do in order to come closer to the goal, to unite with the Creator and attain equivalence of form with Him.

This was the case before the destruction of the Temple because the entire nation lived in the higher sensation and felt what it needed to ask for. The sensation in people’s hearts was essentially the prayer. People lived by the principle, “Whatever one feels in one’s heart is what one speaks.”

People felt in their hearts an aspiration for bestowal, love for the neighbor, love for the Creator, and equivalence with Him. This was felt by the heart and therefore words were not needed. Expressing this verbally is often done for us, in order to hear ourselves and to understand what our heart feels.

This was a time when we were in a corrected state. However, then the Temple was destroyed in our hearts due to the general fall of people from “love for the neighbor” to “unfounded hatred for one another.” Thus, we stopped being similar to the Creator and lost equivalence of form with Him. Therefore, He disappeared from our sensation and we started asking for things for our egos instead of our own correction!

We ask for things that are requested by the new desire that has taken over us, our egoism. And what can egoism possibly want? It wants to feel good and for others to feel bad since then it will feel even better compared to them!

That is how our new heart, “the stony heart,” operates. Obviously, we don’t attain the true prayer until we correct our desires. But on the other hand, we still have to know what the true prayer has to be in order to understand it at least with our mind (if not with the heart), and to advance in this direction by correcting our qualities.

That is why Kabbalists composed a prayer book for us, so we would know what to ask for.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/12/10, “The Importance of the Prayer of the Many”

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A question I received: You say that the Light that Reforms can only be drawn from the lesson. Then what’s the point of singing, dancing, and holding friends’ assemblies at the forthcoming Mega-Congress?

My Answer: All of nature’s systems come from the four phases of the expansion of Direct Light. And what happens there is the combination of just two forces: reception and bestowal, or the Light of Hassadim and the Light of Hochma, respectively.

They work like a piston: one part is filled while the other is emptied, and so on, one after the other. This sequential filling and emptying takes place in phases Aleph (1), Bet (2), Gimel (3), and Dalet (4). All the systems in our world operate according to this principle as well, similar to the pulsation of the heart. There is no movement without alternating filling and emptying.

The same thing happens in our spiritual progress: in one period we study, and in another period we unite, dance, and sing. The two periods have to alternate.

Our world is built in such a way that a person has to work, eat, and raise children. In essence, what are we doing in all of these actions? We are communicating with ourselves and the Creator, and without realizing it we are transferring these two forces, reception and bestowal, from one quality to another. Keter, Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut, the Light of Hochma and the Light of Hassadim, one becomes filled while the other is emptied (see Part 5 of Talmud Eser Sefirot, “Mati Ve Lo Mati” – “The Light’s entrance and exit in the soul”).

Therefore, there’s a time for unifying and a time for studying. That is what Kabbalists have ordained. That’s why we hold a friends’ assembly once a week, regional unity events once a month, and a worldwide Congress once every several months.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/11/10, The Zohar

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