“Preface to the Sulam Commentary,” Item 31, 32:  …The right line keeps to the Hassadim, and wishes to cancel the Ohr Hochma in the left line, and ordain the Ohr Hassadim alone. Conversely, the left line, which keeps to Ohr Hochma, wishes to cancel the Ohr Hassadim in the right line and ordain only the Ohr Hochma. Because of this dispute, neither of them shines, since the Ohr Hassadim in the right line is deficient of Ohr Hochma, like a Guf without a Rosh, and the Ohr Hochma in the left line is complete darkness because Ohr Hochma cannot shine without Hassadim.

And there is no correction to this dispute except through the middle line, created by the lower one that ascends there for MAN, in the form of the middle line. A Zivug from the Upper Light is made… and it compels the left line to unite with the right line.

The two lines, left and right, are prepared for us from Above, but the middle line is for us to prepare. We raise our request (MAN) for the screen, and thereby achieve correction: The left and right lines come together, complementing each other, and reach a compromise. It has to do with one’s freedom of choice. A person connects into the existing mechanical system of the left and right lines, and begets a new quality that did not exist before: the desire to be similar to the Creator.

I use faith above reason, the desire that is totally independent of anything that may happen. I don’t worry about the left or right line, neither about Hassadim, nor Hochma; my only goal is to unite with the Creator. For this reason I do not perceive it as a compromise (one line cannot annul itself before the other), but only as a means to attain unity. This is why a compromise is possible.

It’s similar to approaching two people having a furious argument and being unprepared to change their opinions even slightly. However, I have no intention to unite and reconcile them. I have a more exalted goal: to attain something higher. Yet, I do this by using the power of both these lines.

I set a goal that is above all: to make myself similar to the Creator and merge with Him. In this case the two lines can merge and complement each other because they feel perfection in relation to this goal. Each of them does not attain what it desires; however, its involvement in attaining this goal calms it down.

The middle line shines for them. It is small compared to them, but it attains the Creator’s perfection. This is a higher perfection than what they could attain on their own because this perfection comes from merging with the Creator.

From the 2nd Part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/20, “Preface to the Sulam Commentary”

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A person cannot acquire a spiritual vessel, the desire to receive the property of bestowal from Above without annulling himself before the group. Without this, he will study but to no avail. Moreover, if he puts himself above others, then his study will become “the potion of death” and turn him into a “bat in the night.” Conversely, if a person puts himself below the friends, then his study will make him a “rooster greeting the dawn.”

Therefore, everything depends solely on one’s attitude to the group and the friends. Furthermore, it’s not what one does outwardly; most important is what is happening inside one’s heart. Namely:

1) To what extent he feels (still egoistically) that without the friends he will not achieve the goal;

2) How much he works in order to see them as greater. In reality, it is very difficult and one should at least understand that the Creator has chosen these friends for him.

Until one starts relating to the others like to his own family, who are important and necessary for him, the Light will not affect him positively.

I ascend the first step if I perceive everyone as “1” and myself as “0”; that in relation to them, I am proportionately  “0.1,” meaning that I perceive myself as 10 times lesser than them. But at the second step, egoism brings me the “burdening of the heart,” and I will have to perceive them 100 times more important than me; and at the third step, 1,000 times. Otherwise, I won’t be able to ask the Light that Reforms to affect me. Every time I wish to ascend, I must first descend even deeper. Thus, every time one feels a greater gap between himself and the society (10, 100, and 1,000 times more).

This advancement is impossible without the support of the environment and the common objective burning passionately in everyone. By this, everyone gains motivation, inspiration, importance of spirituality, as well as the understanding that this is the only worthy occupation in life.

We begin with the love of friends which helps us draw the Surrounding Light, which corrects us and gives us a genuine love of others, whereby we come to love of the Creator. Therefore, this principle applies throughout our whole spiritual ascent, in every action, from start to finish along the path.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/10, Article, “According to What is Explained Concerning ‘Love Thy Friend’”

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A question I received: What does it mean to justify the Creator? How does this process manifest inside a person?

My Answer: One justifies the Creator, all of creation, the entire process of development, and the Upper Governance when one goes through all 125 degrees behind which the Creator conceals Himself. When a person takes the concealment upon himself, he nullifies the Creator’s concealments and sees that the concealment was there for his own good, in order for him to build his own screen.

By virtue of working above the concealment, a person acquires revelation, understanding, sensation, and knowledge. Thus, he rises from the animate level to the human one. A person conceals himself so that the Creator does not need to conceal Himself. It is written, “Because Moses hid his face, he merited the revelation of the Creator’s face.”

The Creator can only be seen in the Reflected Light. When you conceal your will to receive pleasure, you perform a restriction on it, and thus create the Reflected Light. Then, in the Reflected Light you reveal the Direct Light.

From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/28/10, Baal HaSulam, Letter 1 – 1920

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A question I received: How can I conduct my point in the heart through the group, which functions as a spiritual amplifier?

My Answer: There are external means that we use: books, the group, the teacher, our study system, and connections around the whole world. These are the conditions that Kabbalists have fixed for us. If we realize them by building external boundaries for ourselves, and bring our desire for spirituality into this system, then this desire begins to grow.

Initially, I have just my single point in the heart. Then, I give it to my friends, thus receiving from them the points that belong to them. This system of connection between us, the souls, already exists. Everything is already prepared in advance during the descent of the worlds from above downwards, in order for us to ascend from our world to the World of Infinity.

All I have to do is tune into this system: Lower myself, see all others as corrected, and desire to receive the Light of Correction through them. Then I will receive desires for bestowal from all the other people, which will increase my desire. This will happen even though I initially had only my own small point in the heart, which probably wasn’t even aimed at the right goal. Yet, I invested in the group, desired to be a part of it, and therefore, I performed an act of bestowal. In response, I received a real force from others, a real desire to bestow.

You suddenly see that you really desire and value this. And then you start to experience fear: “Will I be able to attain bestowal to the Creator or will I complete my life in vain?” These are still egoistic thoughts, but they are already concerning how to attain bestowal. This is called “Lo Lishma“: When one a) aspires to give, and b) thinks about profiting.

It turns out that through the group you receive a more internal direction – to the Creator. But when you aspire to the Creator, you come closer to faith, and thus begin to draw the Surrounding Light upon yourself. It’s not that the Light changes, but it’s you who change, and therefore, the Light influences you differently. Now it can give you the quality of bestowal. When you acquire this quality, you begin to rise above your egoism.

This is what you wanted to achieve from the very beginning, but the Light arranged everything so that it happened according to your own desire, rather than by force. Suddenly you feel how you are filled by the quality of faith, meaning the quality of bestowal, Bina. It gives you freedom from your ego! And it’s not that it liberates you from your egoism, but it gives you the power to ascend above it. That’s when you rise above the Machsom.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/27/10, Article, “Love of Friends”

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A question I received: How can I annul myself before the environment if I have no desire to do so?

My Answer: Understand that there is no choice; you are facing the wall. There is a group; annul yourself before it and you’ll receive from it the importance of the goal. It’s like filling up at a gas station. You refuel in the environment, and hence can drive a few more miles. If you refuel again, then you can drive a little further, and so on. You are saying: “I don’t want to get any fuel; it’s hard for me to drive to the gas station, what should I do?” You have no choice, strict laws are at work here.

Ask for your friends to help you, as it is said: “Help a fellow man.” But after you clarify all the conditions, there is nothing to ask for. You should act. Don’t expect to find a back door to spirituality for it does not exist!

There is only one principle: “We are under the influence of the environment which we choose.” The Creator created it this way because we are parts of a single soul, and everybody depends on everybody else. This dependency remains even after the breaking of the vessels. It’s either a good or bad influence, but in any case, a person is completely dependent on the environment.

You were presented with the opportunity to enter the society that aspires to spirituality. However, now it is you who decides how to get established in it. The Creator puts your hand on a good fortune and says: “Take it!” Now everything depends on you, whether you’ll take it or not. He can’t help you with anything else, for otherwise He will deprive you of free will. If He does your work instead of you, your individuality will cease to exist.

But if a person wants to stick to his old ways, meaning behave according to his nature as does the animal within him, it is his choice. How can he become “human”? He has to rise above the “animal” within and understand that he should overcome himself and annul himself before the group. From the first moment, any act consists only in feeling the importance of the others and uniting with them. You won’t be able to do anything alone.

Only together can we change and attain anything. If it’s not together, all that you do will be in vain. You won’t realize yourself as a human being and will remain an animal. A “human” is he who was born by annulling himself before this special environment. It sounds paradoxical, but it is so.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/10, Article, “According to What is Explained Concerning ‘Love Thy Friend’”

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A question I received: Why does Baal HaSulam write that the transition to bestowal is nothing more than a psychological problem? Then what is so difficult about it?

My Answer: The psychological problem consists of beginning to relate to everything that happens to an intentional external influence on you. Afterward, all the worlds will connect together for us. However, for the time being it poses a psychological problem for us.

We need to try to detach slightly from ourselves, as though we are looking at and evaluating ourselves from the side (drunk people sometimes experience a similar sensation of a double vision). We should continuously analyze ourselves and to say that everything that happens in our heart, mind, and life in general is the Creator fulfilling, controlling, and playing with us. "I" is not I, but His game, and I am watching this myself.

I have no other choice. I am completely driven by the inner fulfillment, which He gives me. However, He gave me an additional point from which I could look at myself and say, “Everything you think and everything you feel comes from Him.”

Question (continued): How does one rise above this state?

My Answer: You need to demand from Him to change your nature. The Creator gives you special, external circumstances all the time, and you need to ask Him to change the circumstances within you (your properties) and to bring them into agreement with the external ones (the Creator’s properties).

Suppose we enter a place with particular external circumstances, which we are unable to stand. Usually, in this case we wish to change the environment to suit us. A “psychological change,” however, is understanding that instead of changing external circumstances, we need to change ourselves to match the external circumstances since the externality cannot be changed. We can transform ourselves to resemble the new environment, and then we will feel comfortable in it. This is a psychological change, a new approach to the changes that humanity is going through today.

Even now, like during all times, we wish to change the nature that surrounds us and to arrange the world according to how we understand it. However, we have begun a different program, and this world (the Creator who arranges all this) now demands that we ourselves begin to change in the direction of the Creator.

New circumstances emerge around me: Darkness comes into the world, everything contracts, becomes more confusing, unclear, and scary. But rather than asking to change the world around me, I need to ask to change me.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/28/10, Shamati #16

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A question I received: What does it mean that the Upper One supplies me with the Light of Hassadim, the properties of bestowal?

My Answer: It means that instead of problems, suffering, darkness, and evil, I begin to perceive goodness, light, abundance, love, kindness, and mercy. Why has it changed? It is because my perception and my desires are beginning to change. My desires become corrected, and suddenly I see the very same darkness as goodness. I understand that bestowal is good. It isn’t darkness, but quite the opposite. It’s a new life that I hadn’t previously known. I perceived it as death, but it turns out to be the land of real life.

This happens to a person who unites with the others and wishes to connect to them, who does everything he can, but discovers that it’s not within his power. So, he asks the Creator to work with him and help him annul himself before the group. Thus, the Creator becomes his partner and all three unite: the person, the Creator, and the group. A person can’t enter the society without the Creator. He must invite the Creator to participate.

When I prepare my desires this way, I suddenly feel that bestowal is not darkness but life. The Light works on me so that subconsciously I begin to avoid reception and to value bestowal. My attitude to the others suddenly changes.

It seems to me as though this intrinsic change occurs in me on its own. I don’t yet understand how the Light has effected this change in me. First, I start to appreciate and honor this quality of bestowal from afar, as it were. However, soon, I desire it and yearn for it so much I simply crave it, and the Light grants my demand and reforms me.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/26/10, "Preface to the Sulam Commentary"

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A “friend” is not just any person; he is a companion who stands opposite me. I gradually acquire love for him in order to reach love of the Creator. This formula is rigid and doesn’t change. First I appeal to the Creator, and in order to connect to Him, I have to unite with my friends.

I labor in love of friends because that is the necessary condition for attaining love of the Creator. A friend and the Creator are linked because with respect to my desire to receive pleasure, they are equal. The Creator and my friend are equally distant from me, and I relate to them in the same way.

The Creator is pure bestowal. I hate my friend as much as I hate bestowal, and therefore, I reject them both. If I don’t achieve this attitude and view my friend and the Creator in the same way, then I can’t work properly. It is similar to aligning one’s eye to aim at a target. If my aim is more toward the Creator, or more toward my friend, then it is no longer precise. I must aim precisely at the target, so that he who aspires for the Creator (Isra-El – straight to the Creator) and the Creator (the Light of correction) merge into a single whole.

A Kabbalistic group is a spiritual vessel, a system of souls, while the Creator is the One who fills it. The vessel becomes just like the Light. Then I realize that it is one and the same since there is no Light without a vessel (Kli).

Everything merges into one. The group becomes the model of the Creator for me. In my attitude toward them, I learn how to relate to Him, whether to love or to hate him. Certainly the only way to relate to the Creator is with bestowal. So, I am presented with the group to test how much I can bestow. My ego is what creates the distance, the disparity of form between the Creator and the group. If it weren’t for my ego, then there would be no difference between them.

So why do I feel a difference now? It is only because I receive pleasure from the Creator and nothing from the group. That is the only difference.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/26/10, Article, “What does ‘Love Thyself as Thy Friend’ Give Us?”

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A question I received: When a spiritual descent comes, I can immediately understand that I have to go through it and submerge myself in it, can I?

My Answer: You are yearning for the corrected state, and only then you fall. Otherwise, if you are trying your best to attain a good state, you won’t be able to discover your egoistical downfall.

A downfall is not an error on the path, but uncovering in oneself an additional new egoism. It is as if you picked up a barbell, gathered all your strength to lift it; lifted 200 pounds; and suddenly it fell! What happened? You suddenly realized that they had added another 2 weights to it, 10 pounds each. This why you faltered and fell; you felt their heaviness.

Now that you experienced the additional weight, you know what you need the strength to overcome. This analogy in spirituality translates to your knowing what you need to rise above, knowing what to ask the force of correction for. You fell with the weight of these added desires, the additional 20 pounds. You felt the weight and heaviness of the additional desires that were revealed to you that opposed your will. Now, you have these new Kelim (spiritual vessels, instruments). If you now ask for additional strength for them, you will be able to lift the 240 pounds.

This means you will not be able to receive the burdening of the heart until you succeed! Only when you succeed, can you receive additional egoistic desire. Of course you will fall. This, however, is a sign of your success! Now you have managed to receive additional strength for correction.

You might ask: So, when do I succeed if every time I get up I am immediately thrown right back down? Why not let me spend a little time enjoying my achievements? Why don’t I receive the medal I deserve? Then I can continue. That isn’t possible. This is done on purpose, so that you learn to enjoy the work itself and see a reward in the fact that you were given a chance to give a little more.

From the Evening Zohar Lesson 5/26/10

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A question I received: How do you manage to understand what is written in The Zohar? Could you share your secret?

My Answer: I see rather than understand. I simply see. Let’s suppose that you and I are standing together, and I have binoculars while you do not, and maybe even your eyesight isn’t so great. You ask me, “What’s here? What’s there?” I see through my eyesight, and if it’s not enough, I look into the binoculars, the telescope, or the microscope.

In other words, I have a means of seeing, and I tell you about what I see. Meanwhile, you do not see it. It is something completely new for you – something strange, which may or may not exist. It is all unclear, confusing, and unfamiliar to you.

Therefore, you need to acquire these devices: “binoculars,” “telescopes,” and “microscopes.” And in order to acquire them, you need the Upper Light. These devices are the screen, which helps you see a new, Upper world. We merely need to rouse the Upper Light on us, and the most effective means for this is mutual study in a group using Kabbalistic sources.

From the Sunday Morning Zohar Lesson 5/23/10

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