A question I received: How can we demand correction at present when we are entirely in egoistic desires?

My Answer: Of course, we can’t demand correction at present. If I’m an absolute egoist, how can I ask for correction? However, what’s demanded from me is to ask for a bit of bestowal to the extent that I’m able to ask while still in egoism. This means that while you’re in Lo Lishma, (that is, in a lie, in the ego, in your desire for pleasure, and in thoughts about yourself), you are making a weak cry that you want to be giving.

Of course, it’s a lie, and you don’t want to love others, to give to them, and become similar to the Creator. You simply don’t know what bestowal is, and because of this, you are able to say these words. If you knew what it was, you’d run away immediately. The truth is concealed from you so that you don’t know what you are asking for. Bestowal is so opposite to your nature that it’s really death for your present desires and qualities.

In the science of Kabbalah, we study the relationship between Lights and desires. There is a vessel or desire with the Light opposite to it. Beside this, there is another state in which desire is not true but false, and the Light which is opposite to it is not Direct but Surrounding. This is exactly the state that we’re in now. However, for now, we ask that this Light come and bring us this desire to give as if we want to become giving, and it works because of this.

The system is designed such that, from our current state in which we do not want the next state, but nonetheless are asking for it, we can come to this next state, we can start wanting it, receive it, and be in it. This is caused by Reshimot, the spiritual genes, which remain in us from the corrected state that later shattered. These Reshimot awaken Lights in the World of Atzilut that are far from us. We can attract them to influence us, and then they are called Surrounding Lights.

Certainly, we’re in a lie and don’t want bestowal or to love our neighbor. It is true. The Torah does not hide this fact from us. On the contrary, it tells us that the Creator is concealed and the spiritual world is concealed because if you saw it, you would never want it.

Thus, spirituality is concealed so that you can imagine that it’s good for you even in your egoistic desires. When you imagine some egoistic reward for yourself, as if you want the spiritual world, the Light still influences you and changes your desires and thoughts from receiving to giving. This is how it works. The system was designed exactly for this process.

It works in this way not only in our state when we ascend from this receiving level to the first degree of giving; after crossing the Machsom (the barrier to spirituality), we ascend from state to state according to the same principle: by desiring the undesirable. Although, at those stages “a person’s soul teaches him,” and we have some support because we are already in the spiritual world.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/2/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: Will my soul remember everything I learned in this life? Will I continue to learn Kabbalah and come to the group again in my next life?

My Answer: The only thing that a person takes with him from this life is the spiritual path that he went through; this does not vanish. After all, in regard to spirituality, we are, and continue to be in the same reality, but it is slightly hidden from us.

I am constantly situated in my soul, in spite of the fact that I don’t feel it, I continue to work with it and go through different states. All this occurs in my eternal soul. The fact that I now see physical bodies and this world around me is a “mirage” of my spiritual state.

If I work internally now, then I will begin my next reincarnation from a higher spiritual state, and I will come to a Kabbalah group faster and will be more successful in my studies. The entire previous path will remain within me in the form of spiritual genes (Reshimot); it doesn’t vanish. In the spiritual world nothing vanishes at all; things disappear only in our world because this whole world will eventually vanish. In the meantime, nothing that I have acquired through my egoistic desire remains, since the desire itself vanishes, only the external clothing remains.

Every time the soul goes through a new reincarnation, it builds an environment for itself according to its ability and the necessity to correct itself. Why do I exist in this environment and not a different one? It is because my soul requires this. No calculation is performed in regard to the bodies; they exist in connection with each other, in this world, in all of the situations that are necessary for the soul’s correction.

Meanwhile, the body is not taken into account. Actually, it doesn’t exist at all; it is a virtual illusion that presents itself to us in this form. In actuality, only the soul exists, but we are unable to feel it. And its development clearly determines what happens to the bodies.

Therefore, in the end of “Preface to The Book of Zohar” Baal HaSulam writes that only the correction of the souls will help us correct our world and perceive this corporeal life as more kind. All the offenses that occur in this world are a consequence of the necessity for the soul to be corrected. At the same time, there are no actions or corrections in this world: changes are only possible through the soul.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/2/10, Article “Which Degree Should One Acheive?”

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The Zohar, Chapter “Tetzaveh (Command),” Item 102: …When it was said, “Fetch two he-goats, one for Me and one for that delator, the Sitra Achra, so he will think that he has eaten from My own meal, and will not know of the joy of our other meal. He will take that part,” GAR of the left, which is sent to the desert, to the place of ruin, to give him back his dominion, meaning to the middle point of the ruined world….

We read in all the Kabbalistic books about actions that we need to do in order to reveal the real world by having proper vision and perception. For example, when I don’t know where I am, I try to make my senses more acute, I clean my glasses to clear the fog before my eyes. I try different things to help orient myself to the strange place that I can’t make out.

Kabbalists give us the same kind of prescription: the things that we need to do in order to clear our sensory channels: vision, hearing, taste, smell, and touch (five Sefirot), in order to orient ourselves in the new space and to be able to discern it. This is why The Zohar tells us that if there is a disturbance in our perception, the so called “GAR of the left,” then we need to stop using it, and “send it to the desert.”

In other words, The Zohar describes the way we are to work with our senses and what we need to do in order to become closer to the proper orientation in the space where we exist. Essentially, the entire wisdom of Kabbalah only speaks about attaining the perception of a new reality instead of perceiving this imaginary world.

After all, we’re not actually going anywhere, we don’t fly or move, we remain in the same place and state. We simply keep perfecting our senses. This is why Kabbalah is called the science of reception, the science of perception (in Hebrew, the word “Kabbalah” comes from the word “Lekabel” – to receive).

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/3/10, The Zohar

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There is a concept of “entering a union,” when the parties sign a commitment to treat each other well in the future if the relationship worsens, problems and misunderstandings emerge, hatred breaks out, or lack of understanding comes to replace understanding. However, even if I fall into such a state where it seems obvious to me that the other side has become my enemy, I will still treat him as a friend according to the agreement that I once signed with him. This constitutes the strength of the union.

When is it possible to enter such a union? If we are close and our qualities match, then we enter a union. We don’t need it right now since there is understanding between us and even love! However, we sign this agreement in case I come to feel opposition and hatred – then I am obliged to keep myself in such a relationship by force.

In other words, I can “fall” and see you and me hating each other, but still I need to treat you like before. I know that everything depends on me, and the whole of reality outside of me is unified and perfect. This is where the concept of a union comes from – I rely on the fact that all the changes occur only in me: the good ones and the bad ones. Everything depends upon my outlook of things: “Everyone judges according to his own shortcomings.”

Therefore, when I sign such a union agreement, I establish and direct myself to the fact that the world is good and perfect, and all the changes occur only in me. This is the foundation of a spiritual union, and it exists eternally. Our Patriarchs (the Kabbalists of the past) entered such a union having corrected their parts of the common soul which is called “the Merit of the fathers.” And we can use this merit if we join them and go back to the state of that union that exists between them.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/3/10, Article “Ancestral Merit”

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A question I received: What does “triggering the soul of a righteous“ (Ibur Neshmat Tzadik) mean?

My Answer: This means that a person who wishes to reach a goal and seeks how to accomplish this suddenly feels that he is being helped and supported. He feels a higher soul  clothing in him like NHY de Ima clothes in Zeir Anpin. It is like in our world when a baby is born, there are always grown up relatives around him, those who love and sustain him.They take responsibility for him. And the child reciprocates with his love and loyalty.

Thereby, the law “I Was Borrowed On, and I Repay” is fulfilled. This means the person accepts their assistance and caring and then compensates or pays – not directly to them, but to the other souls. This is how the cycle is completed. Similarly in our world, a baby is born and his parents take care of him, and when the parents get old, the child, now grown up himself, looks after them and his own young children too, thus linking all generations with the previous and the following levels.

Only this arrangement of linking all the levels gives us an opportunity to ascend. Actually, it is impossible to ascend from step to step without the external help. Every time I ascend to a new spiritual step, I am reborn. To ascend, I need assistance from the group (through mutual guarantee), from the Creator (who works on us through the group), and from the special souls (our teachers and helpers).

It doesn’t matter whether they are in our world or are helping us from the system of souls. We receive help from all the Kabbalists who corrected themselves. Their corrected souls have already reached the common system of Adam HaRishon in the World of Infinity, and they are helping us. Thus we ascend. This system of help is called the shepherd of the mules; it is the common soul (the collective help) helping to correct our “donkey” (our matter).

From the Evening Zohar Lesson 6/2/10, Article, “Which Degree Should One Achieve”

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A question I received: Does the Creator hear my prayer? Can He change for me?

My answer: No! He is unchangeable, but still you ask Him to change. In essence, you tell Him: “You know, yesterday You weren’t very nice to me. Today, I beg You, please be good!” But how is He going to change?

If you don’t understand, then why do you pray? If you pray, ask Him to change you, then you will receive a different attitude from Him.

Look at the example of parents and young children. Do parents change their attitude to the child? They always treat him with love, but sometimes the child says: “Mom is bad!” What makes the mother change in the child’s perception from being “bad” to “good”? How does the child make it so that the mother is good? The child changes.

The example clarifies what needs to change: Change yourself!

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/4/10, Shamati #8

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A question I received: What is “The Fathers’ Merit”?

My Answer: There is a part in the general system of souls that has already completed its correction. They are called the Patriarchs. This part exists in a corrected state, filled with Light. These were very luminous souls, which is why they were able to fully correct their parts in the general system of Adam HaRishon.

But now how do we correct ourselves? We will be able to reach correction by attaching ourselves to them. If I strive to do this, I am called righteous for I want to come to the same state as them to justify the Creator and the creation. And that is when “the fathers’ merit” begins to influence me (otherwise it does not), and I receive from them the Light that returns to the Source.

For this I need a system called the Kabbalistic group, so that within it I could realize the advice given by these Kabbalists (fathers). They tell me what I need to do to place myself into their corrected part within the general system of souls. This is called “to make use of the fathers’ merit.” They have given me Kabbalah (the Torah), told me how to achieve correction, and how to utilize the correction they’ve already made in the general system. I need not torture my body; I only need to draw the Surrounding Light onto myself through their corrected system.

My choice lies only in connecting to the group, through which I can aim myself at the corrected system, called “fathers.” “Fathers” have made corrections within the broken system of Adam HaRishon, and thanks to these corrections anyone can, regardless of time or situation, use the right environment to become like the fathers to connect to them so as to receive from there the Light that returns to the Source, thereby utilizing the power of the light they had attained.

In our Kabbalistic group we want to become like that corrected group of souls, called “fathers.” Therefore, everyone ought to say: “When will my actions be like those of the fathers?” Thus we will have an example how our group can connect to their group.

In this lies our entire choice and inheritance of the fathers’ merit. If our group enters the corrected part of Adam HaRishon, called “fathers,” equalizes its qualities with theirs, and connects to them, in so doing we will make use of their “merit” and return to the corrected state that exists there.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/3/10, Article “Ancestral Merit”

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Although we were all born with our special root of the soul on different degrees, and with a different desire, each person can adopt the desires of others due to the fact there is a mutual inclusion of souls.

In addition, it is written that everyone can ascend to the degree of Moses. However, how is this possible if I was born with a minor root of the soul? Everything depends on the person! Even if a person is born with not a very high root of the soul, one can still unite with higher desires, correct them, and ascend to the highest level.

This is called that the Creator sends him a drover of donkeys (donkey – Hamor, from the word material – Homer) which is a soul that helps him unite with higher desires, as well as to correct them. Then every person can ascend to the degree of the Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the greatest souls, as well as to the degree of Moses, the greatest of all the prophets.

Therefore, when a person is born (gives birth to himself!) in the spiritual world, he can receive the desires from all the others, and by using such a desire, he can become just as important as the most elevated soul. And in this regard, the souls do not interfere with one another. They all ascend to the same, maximum level of correction – the complete Light of NRNHY.

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Some souls need to correct more in themselves, others need to correct less. However, when they return to the root of their soul, each attains perfection. There are souls that pertain to the main systems of Adam HaRishon akin to the brain, the heart, the liver, and the kidneys, like vital organs of the common soul.

Yet, on the other hand, in perfection, a cell at the tip of the heel is just as important as a cell in the brain. Only in our material world can a person live without an arm, a leg, or some organs. The spiritual world is perfect; therefore, every part is just as important as all the others.

If someone does not complete his correction by even 1%, there will not be general perfection. Even if all the others are already corrected, because of his incomplete correction (< 100%) final correction will not come. It is difficult to understand this spiritual principle: all are equally important, but each differs according to the roots of their souls.

However, when we return to the World of Infinity, no one will feel any differentiation from the others. If one carries out everything that he was obliged to according to his qualities, then, he has realized himself completely.

Therefore, although most souls pertain to the level of Nefesh, a smaller amount pertain to the level of Ruach, an even smaller amount to the level of Neshama, and only some pertain to the complete degree of NRNHY, nonetheless the common Light shines to everyone! The whole Light of Infinity fills everyone in the common, corrected soul.

We cannot understand this in our world with our uncorrected qualities because we exist in such lack of perfection that we cannot even imagine the corrected state of the soul.
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Every soul while correcting itself improves the condition of the collective soul, and by doing so, it helps all the others to correct themselves; they, in turn, also contribute their corrections to the common soul. First, everyone must realize the root of his soul by bringing his spiritual gene (Reshimo) to its individual, final correction (Gmar Tikkun Prati). Our individually corrected state is then our complete engagement in the collective soul of Adam HaRishon.

So, what is the common soul of Adam HaRishon after all? Is it all me, or am I a part of it? The common soul is all me, and all the others are perfect already. It is from them that I draw the desires which I must fulfill. I’m like one small organ in the body which has to provide for the entire body in all its parts with my share and my work. Hence, the whole body is revealed in relation to me, but only to the measure in which I fill it.

Suppose that I’m related to the vascular, lymphatic, or nervous system; I am uncovering only the parts that are related to that system. In this way, I disclose the entire system of Adam HaRishon in relation to me. I adjoin this tremendous desire of the common soul to myself. In relation to the others, I become like a mother, ZAT de Bina, or in other words, like “the cow that desires to feed its calf.” In fact, I must fill them with the fruits of my labor.

So, I begin to pull all their desires into myself. These unfilled desires have empty spaces that require my filling. They are unfulfilled because I haven’t accomplished my work. When I do, I begin to feel the entire system of Adam HaRishon.

In fact, this is my spiritual vessel or my will. It seems to be located in others, but it is mine. It turns out that I’m working like the Creator who wishes to fill the creatures. I act as bestowal in relation to this foreign desire, and they are, for me, the receiving ones. So, I unite with them and treat them with love like the Creator treats the entire collective soul.

However, I connect only with that section of the soul which is related to me or to the system that I am to fill. In this way, I attain the state where I feel myself as the whole Adam HaRishon and, through it, I discover the whole Creator. As I identify myself with the collective system of Adam HaRishon with which I am able to unite, and as I contribute my work to each part, I unite with all these parts in the corrected form.

In fact, everyone is corrected but me. It turns out that I disclose Adam HaRishon for what he is, and I acquire the life of this common soul which is the Malchut of the World of Infinity. This is the manner in which every person must realize themselves. They must correct their individual attitude, their personal egoism, and absorb the desires of all others, feel that they are his, fill them, and, through them, attain the entire system of Adam HaRishon. In this, they discover the whole Creator.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/2/10, Article “Which Degree Should One Achieve?”

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