Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 141:I am found nowhere but in the Torah. Therefore, keep the Torah and look for Me there, and the Light in it will reform you and you will find Me,” as it is written, “Those that seek Me shall find Me.”

This is what we try to do, striving to connect as one man in one heart, attaining mutual guarantee and “love your neighbor as yourself” by showing our readiness for such a connection during the study. And then in each moment, we reveal how much we are incapable of this, and then again we try, despite everything, to think about unity and connection.

We hope that our study and connection will help us reveal the Creator in order to bring Him pleasure. This becomes the prayer during the study, an action of correction, and it draws us nearer to the goal. If the friends try to connect in the right way, raise their points in the heart above their ego, free from its control, and connect them, which takes place during the lesson, which tells about such states, then in this we attract the Reforming Light. And this is actually our exertion.

There will always be disturbances, more and more. Therefore, we need to strengthen each other, and precisely then, when the despair comes and big obstacles appear in the path, a person is helpless before them, doesn’t know what to do, wants to escape, gets tired and falls, falls asleep or the opposite, becomes angry and cannot bear this state. But precisely these states are the most beneficial for adding one more drop of work, another ounce of effort, by which we attract the Light on us.

One who does not despair and give up is the one who succeeds. Here neither wisdom nor force will help, only patience. Time will do it.

“Time” symbolizes numerous efforts that a person does in each moment, even the smallest ones. These efforts accumulate, connect, and in the end, bring a solution.
[98320]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/13, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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Question: During the convention, we made efforts to be born, but how can we synchronize them with the labor pains that come from Above?

Answer: That is why we are given exercises from Above: There is a time of descent, and a time of ascent; there are times when we get together and when we study. And the most important states are those when we unite with each other: during the lessons, other joint activities, and at the conventions. Now, we add our efforts to the natural labor pains in order to accelerate this process.

And in fact, our actions today speed up our birth both quantitatively and qualitatively. As a result, we begin to understand and better feel where in fact the most crucial point is, where we need to press, what a newborn will be according to our expectations.

A newborn is our next degree, like children going after their parents, that is, our next state. We pass all these states due to the concentration of our efforts, in addition to what is given to us from above.

We do not feel in our work what belongs to the preparation from the Creator’s side and what He does. We apply pressure, trying to annul oneself before everyone else in order to create one heart, one desire, and trying not to interfere. But everything else is done by the Creator. He awakens desires in us and we act, but it is not added to our own account. Only our effort that we apply in order to annul ourselves, our self-sacrifice, is counted.

Such actions are given to us with great difficulty and for a few moments. But nothing more is required; we can acccumulate these moments and very quickly reach the force of bestowal, and feel this force clothed in us. This is called the revelation of the Creator to the created being.
[98410]
From the Arava Convention 1/18/13, Lesson 5 

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Question: When we try to hold on to the thought about what’s important, we are distracted again and again by other matters. How frequently should these entrances and exits change?

Answer: Once one of Rabbi Zusha’s students told him that he had experienced several ascents and descents that morning; in reply, Rabbi Zusha said that he had experienced close to 400 ascents and descents in a few minutes time.

Apparently it is impossible to measure this variable, since on the whole spirituality is above the range of the frequency of the entrances and exits, of the ascents and descents, in an infinite frequency. There are also higher frequencies in our world, for example, in computers, radios, laser technology, etc. Spirituality is much higher than that.

So when does a person connect to the infinite frequency? When he begins to perceive the ascents and descents as one whole. In that case they become a kind of “even voltage”: There are no “peaks” and no “holes,” everything is incorporated in a common direction.

Only in our world, the plus is associated with the positive direction, and the minus with the negative one. According to such an approach even the plus doesn’t lead to anything good.

But when I perceive such darkness as light, the descent as an ascent, when I realize that everything comes from one source and only in order to lead us forward, then I am equally happy about the ascents and the descents. I am even happier about the descents since by them I see that I am advancing. An ascent can stem from different reasons, like for example from the bribery of my ego. A descent, however, will surely be beneficial since Pharaoh is bringing me closer to the Creator.

I should immediately rejoice when the descent comes although there are moments of the hardening of the heart and confusion that I cannot even tell apart. But the moment I notice that I am detached, disconnected, from spirituality, the moment I realize that I have been “thrown away” for perhaps a quarter of an hour already, half a minute, or even a second, I am happy. After all, I have recognized the problem. It was created from Above, but I have reached its essence and I am glad about that since I am sure that I have acquired a new depth and that I “sanctify” it now.

So it turns out that I don’t move along a shattered road that is twisted and thorny, but along a wonderful road. It is actually so. Eventually, we should change only our perspective of the world. In this new picture, to the extent that we accept what is happening, we discover the system of leadership and Providence, the managing force, and then, suddenly, the perfection opens up before us…
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/20/13, Shamati #26

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Question: During the Arava convention our group received a huge new level. Now we have to cling to it and keep it, and this requires repulsions. But on the other hand, according to the example that Baal HaSulam brings, in order to jump on the table you need to jump above it. So what is the next point “above the table” that we should focus our efforts on?

Answer: This week everyone will go home and we will return to our daily routine. For me, personally, the daily routine is the main thing; the conventions are a result of that routine. Day after day, we will work on ourselves increasingly more strongly, opening what we attained now and getting ready for the new revelation. This is all our work.

The convention itself is not work. We made such great preparations and so we succeeded. Part of that success was the women’s convention. In addition to that, collecting money for our new home and uniting around this problem created a surprisingly powerful force. Of course, we mustn’t forget the congresses in Kharkov and Novosibirsk.

Eventually we see that we have matured. The world is advancing faster downhill while we are rising accordingly. Here we have to keep clear frameworks: attend the daily lessons, read my blog selectively, participate in the workshops, and disseminate.

The main thing is self-examination and self-report: a person must constantly check oneself and one’s connection with the group.

In this context, during the lessons and the workshops, we are expecting new states and increasingly deeper issues. Today during the lesson and the workshop we will already continue what we have started during the Arava convention.

In this type of work, we fill the vessel drop by drop, until we “leap” to the next level, and thus over and over again. Don’t neglect these daily additions that are accumulating “penny by penny.” There is no other way. By that we discover many vessels, desires, internally. Even if it seems that nothing happens, the outcome of these efforts will, in fact, be discovered later on.

It is the same with a child who has to go through different states in the human environment. If he doesn’t have such an environment during the first years of his life, then nothing will help afterward: No matter how much you invest in him, he will never be a human being. The different examples of Mowgli–children prove that. How could that be? The thing is that he did not develop his desires in time.

We are also dealing with things that are essential on the current level of our development, and so we have to dedicate the time to study and to internal changes by trying to value every moment in this work.
[98350]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/20/13, Shamati #26

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If I experience a real descent, within my bones, for more than one moment, then it is a sign that I didn’t make the correct effort! I must fall to the bottom for a moment, like Rabbi Shimon who changed from a great sage person to a simple market vendor. But this descent should not last more than a moment; this is enough. And then, I need to start using the connection with the environment, mutual guarantee, and all the means that I prepared in advance.

At the time of descent, when I have fallen to the bottom of the sine wave, I cannot do anything, I become dead. From this hole, the stores I accumulated in the batteries of the group need to pull me out. But the moment that I exit a bit from the deepest descent, from the dead state, from the “ bottom,” I must ascend by myself, as much as I am able to participate on my own in this work.

If I ascended by one or two millimeters from the lowest state, then to this extent I am able to scream. If I rise three millimeters, then I can already yell even louder, etc. I am not allowed to wait for time to pass by itself! I must try to rise, no matter how difficult and futile it may seem. It is specifically here at the bottom of the sine wave, at the exit of the descent, that I must invest the most efforts. It will show that I truly long for the goal.

The main effort is in clarification, self-analysis: what for, why, what is the goal, who can help me, where is the Light that Reforms, how I can use that Light? I’m not going to pull myself out of the descent. I know that “a prisoner cannot liberate himself from prison”. Only the Light can help me, and I look for it.

The problem is that we try to correct ourselves by ourselves. It should be clear that this is impossible. But if I know that the Light can do this and that It operates according to my efforts, according to my equivalence of form towards Him, then I begin to work with it mutually, like partners. I only need to prepare myself each time, so that the Light will operate on me, and it acts. And again I prepare myself, and again it acts.

And in this way we alternately work together and I already have a common language with Him, understanding, and closeness even though we are opposite to each other. I do something and also He does something in response. In this way we begin to understand each other and connect.
[98314]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/13, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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The breaking was necessary because without it we would just hang in the same state, in the middle between egoism and sanctity, neither here nor there. And while tied to a single state, one is not able to change anything. In order to walk, it is necessary to keep moving the feet so that one is far from the other; there has to be a difference between two states. In that case, we shift from the state we perceive as undesirable and bad to a better one.

In other words, I keep moving from a poor state to a good state. It is similar to walking: the foot that was in the front remains behind now, while I put the other foot forward to make a step further. And then I make one more step, and yet another one, alternating the feet, each time leaving behind what used to be ahead.

I don’t place the other foot next to the first, adding to the same state; I keep putting it further ahead. The same rule applies in the spiritual world. The negative I had I turn into plus, and therefore descent always promotes ascent.

I always have three states: the middle, the previous, and the future one.
[98205]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/1/13, The Study of the Ten Sefirot 

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The desire to receive does not disappear; it isn’t born, doesn’t develop, and doesn’t change; it is only concealed or revealed to the extent that it can be used. The concealment of the desire and its revelation are determined according to the steps of the spiritual ladder.

The whole system is already arranged and built from the top down: As the levels descend downward, they conceal another part of the desire to receive in it. Its use is concealed from us, since we cannot use it correctly.

To prevent the created beings from making mistakes as they ascend from the bottom up, the desires are gradually revealed to them, only the part of the desire with which they can work correctly. The whole spiritual ladder is a mark on the scale of how much of your desire can be revealed to you so that you can use it, so that you will be able to overcome it and will you want to correct it, and will not lose your head and want to fill it at any cost.

If you were to immediately reveal a strong desire, you would only think of its egoistic fulfillment. If you were given a very high position, for example, you were in charge of all the radio stations and TV channels, then we would not see you in class. You would say that you have more important things to do, that you had to take care of the world.

Therefore, you are not given this position but something much simpler. Everything depends on how much you can really worry and care about the world and, of course, according to what suits the world and whether its time has come. If we could advance more by ourselves, we could give the world more since it is ready for that. It is already open. We could bestow upon it more and bring it closer to us and together with it we could rise to a higher level.

The world is the lower level, and we are the intermediate level, and above us there is an even higher level, the Creator. We have to awaken the world so that the world will awaken us. This means that we have to bestow upon it and to spread the message everywhere possible. Then the world will begin to awaken us, and we will be able to rise to the upper and perform the spiritual action for the world.

Everything is already in its place, and it is called an inner circle, an external circle, and an even more external one. The problem is only in us.
[98260]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/10/13, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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Question: Not everything that I do in life requires me to solicit help from my friends or from the Creator. However, these actions still lead me to the goal; for example, I get up in the morning and head to the congress all by myself. But there are actions I have been unsuccessfully trying to implement for 20 years now. Does it mean that these actions require applying the efforts that we talk about in the wisdom of Kabbalah?

Answer: No. If you can’t do something at all, then it’s not about your effort. Exertion is about asking to be given strength to do something. Our appeal for forces is the exertion. We apply lots of efforts, but all of them are directed towards ourselves. Efforts start when we see that we are powerless to do anything at all. Real exertions are above human powers. Only when we run out of energy, a place for exertion appears.

How can it be? Let’s say, I can lift a maximum of 100 pounds. Where is my effort here? I won’t lift more than this anyway. So, my effort is about asking for additional strength to increase the load. I did everything that was in my power: I got ready for the congress, registered, arrived, but in fact I am not there yet. We talk with friends, have joint meals, go for a walk, the weather is great, the air is clean…Are any of these actions considered to be my efforts? No! But it is only due to our efforts that we have gathered together.

Our effort is that we want to come to unity, and for that, we perform various actions. If as a result of these actions, each discovers that he did not achieve anything, if he did not rejoice, and groans and cries for salvation, it is called “We shall do and we shall hear.”

“We are ready! So give us strength!” This is what we scream about. In Kabbalah, this demand is called an effort. The Creator performs the action, not us. Our contribution is only the demand.

Question: But this is contrary to my masculinity. I literally humble myself before the Creator…

Answer: So, lower yourself a little. No big deal! Do you always have to be macho? Where you will humble yourself you will see greatness. Modesty is a great thing. Our efforts are all about our demand to be humbled. You have to “pay” your friends to have them help you achieve this.

Question: Are there any examples of this in nature? Do I humiliate a child to raise him?

Answer: No, all you do is repetitively add complications to a child’s life and set up tasks of increasing difficulty for him. As to becoming more humble, it doesn’t originate from Above. You are the one who has to come to this point. This condition emerges when you are helpless, powerless to act and unable to reach the goal. Imagine that you want to lift 400 pounds even though your limit is 350. So, you ask the Creator to help you. Does He humiliate you in this case?

Of course you did everything that was in your power: exercised a lot in order to lift 400 pounds so that you do it yourself rather than be indebted to anybody else. Yet, a spiritual path is different; here, you have to get the power of bestowal, the force of the Light, that you are still lacking. You cannot receive it if you don’t ask for it.

You have to bow your head since otherwise you won’t be able to use this force. Similarly, a young child given adult things would get hurt. The child should move ahead step by step and understand causes and possible consequences so that his knowledge and powers will be a result of his own personal experience. Otherwise, he will turn into a terrible and destructive monster with a little intellect.

Question: Why are our efforts to unite not enough for the Creator? Why does He want us to appeal to Him?

Answer: Your demand signifies that you can use the powers that He gives you correctly. If you open your bestowing vessel properly, it means that you know how to handle the force He gives you, and vice versa, the absence of the correct demand shows that you are not ready to use the Creator’s gift correctly and that it would only hurt you and others if He grants it to you.

This is the reason Plato and Aristotle were against exposing the sciences to the masses. People would acquire powers without any idea of the relationships that exist in nature, without any understanding of cause and effect, and this would lead to complete destruction

Question: So it makes no sense to carry out the actions I can do myself?

Answer: That is true. Accordingly, it is said, “Better sit and do nothing.” If humanity could only be satisfied with basic needs in food, having a family and children, then its path would be much more successful since, in this case, all their other forces would be devoted to the internal advancement and the rest would be left up to the Creator.
[98090]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/15/13, The Zohar

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In the article, “The Peace,” Baal HaSulam writes about the quotation: “All is in deposit, and a fortress spreads over all of life. The store is open and the shopkeeper sells by deferred payment; the book is open and the hand writes.” [Meaning the Creator records everything that happens.] “And all who wish to borrow may come and borrow,” [the access is unobstructed, and one can take anything one wants] “and the collectors return regularly, day-by-day, and collect from a person knowingly and unknowingly. And they have what to rely on,” [meaning that everything is documented] “and the judgment [a decision on what a person is charged with] “is true, and all is ready for the feast.”

This is the way Kabbalists expressed the essence of our relationship with the Creator.

On one hand, “all is in deposit,” meaning nothing is given to us for free. It’s the law of nature in which we exist in which all its parts are clearly linked in cause and effect relationships.

We judge nature according to ourselves, and so we think that there might be some inaccuracies, confusing and complicated things. But every time when we really explore nature, we discover that the laws are amazingly accurate and we marvel at the wisdom and the interconnectedness of nature.

Presently, scientists recognize that there are other universes and dimensions besides ours.

When I was a child, in school, we were told that our universe is endless and eternal. Then, it became known that it originated 14 billion years ago, and if we are talking about the time, then there is a beginning and end of the universe. This discovery was made by the American scientist Hubble after whom the space telescope is named.

Later, scientists discovered that our universe is not only expanding, that it emerged from a point, but also, that it disappears as evidenced by black holes, etc.

This points to the fact that everything is predetermined and defined in accordance with the laws of conservation, all is absolutely, clearly distributed.

Therefore, it’s said, “the judgment is true, and all is ready for the feast,” meaning for the final and correct state.

However, “a fortress spreads over all of life.” The Creator prepared an elaborate trap for humanity where the upper force guarantees that everybody will eventually return to the right state, but at some stage in the journey, we are given the freedom of will. Presently, we completely lack understanding of this fact. No science apprehends it because science exists in one plane, one line; there is no duality.

When faced with duality, science gets stuck. Science reveals certain properties in nature, as opposed to ours, but it never comprehends the duality. Today, only quantum physics approaches this phenomenon. That’s why it is considered as “out of this world” physics, but not more.

We should change ourselves, our mind, our feelings, and then we will be able to sense behind this a potential barrier, the boundary between the phases—it doesn’t matter what you call it. For us, this is transitioning the Machsom.

The law of nature says that “the book is open and the hand writes… and the collectors return regularly, day-by-day, and collect from a person knowingly and unknowingly” (according to the upper court’s decision) meaning that the whole system is in a state of a precise and sealed form.

However, we have two ways to go: Go to the shop and take whatever we want either knowing that everything is recorded and that we will have to pay the fee, or  without knowing or even thinking about it. If a person is unaware of these things, it means that he still is in a different developmental phase; in this case, he is not being “charged” too much, just according to his level of advancement.

People who study Kabbalah already understand that they are in a state where everything they borrow must be paid back and they automatically sign their names in the shopkeeper’s book. So, the very moment we receive anything, we have to start thinking hard about how to meet the owner, how to return the debt, and how to pay it.

Every moment of our lives is recorded in His book, every breath, heartbeat, and action, because all that we have we receive from Him. “Don’t consider any moment to be insignificant,” each moment of life has to be paid for.

But we have absolutely no way to keep this in mind, nor can we rely on the reminders to make us feel that we are actually marked in His book and that each of us will have to pay since we are in debt and that our debt constantly grows and accrues. And each subsequent time, our obligations become more demanding and rigorous.

We have arrived at an interesting phase where we need to learn this law and to get to know its source. We are led there gradually, as small children. This law of development treats us gently and gives us a chance to get used to it.
[98073]
From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/9/12, Lesson 5

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We must constantly take care to be in a good mood. And not because you have heard something funny or because you have had a drink, but because you were awarded to justify the Creator in everything that happens, in every state, at every moment, for any question that may come up in your heart or your mind. Then you are in a good mood.

You justify the Creator for having created a wonderful world. And the more advanced your view, you see the world in greater scrutiny and depth, the more you see the wisdom and benevolence of the upper Providence, and you justify the Creator and judge the whole world to the scale of merit. Thus you become a beneficial, active part of the general soul of the world.

However, whoever has a “sour face” condemns the upper Providence with regard to himself and especially with regard to the whole world. By that he lowers not only himself but also the whole world and tips the scale against himself and the whole world.

This is the reason for all the evil in the world, for all the sufferings. After all, only the Israeli nation, those who yearn for the Creator (Yashar—El) (straight to the Creator) can change anything. They are the only ones responsible for justifying the Creator’s Providence in the vessels of the whole world, and if they don’t do that, then they are clearly the first who get hurt. The punishment also begins with the righteous since they are responsible for the world being in this state.

So we have to understand that this is a closed system and everything depends on the desires that are part of the general vessel that the Creator has created; they need to correct everything and to justify it, and bring the whole world to a perfect state. They must help the desires, which cannot correct themselves, be corrected and bring the Light to their lives until everything is finally corrected.
[98202]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/1/13, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

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