Question: Why were we given the Mitzvot, meaning the commandments, if everything has to be fulfilled according to our desire and our freewill?

Answer: Indeed, a person accepts a Mitzva as a commandment. After all, desire also “commands” us to behave in a certain way and we perform the desires’ commandments.

If I turn to someone in order to do something, he can do it out of fear, for a reward in this world, for a reward in the next world, or because he is commanded to do so. So a Mitzva is a commandment that is not fulfilled out of fear and not for a reward.

If I am afraid of someone or hope to get a reward, I keep a kind of a contract and not a Mitzva. I have a chance to either lose or gain according to the host’s desire which deprives me of my freewill and sets tough conditions: “Do that and then you will gain something, do something else and you will lose.” I see that there is no third way and that there is no way out. Perhaps, I may have been brought up this way or these are the circumstances.

On the other hand, a Mitzva symbolizes the fact that I am totally free. The Creator is totally concealed from me; I can do what I want, but I still look for a way to perform and to fulfill His desire. Why? There is no answer to that question.

So go look for an answer. Fear is already coercion, it is bribery, you are addicted, and it means that there is no spirituality here. So why should I observe the Mitzva? There is no reason to do so. Only a madman or a small kid can act without any reward, without wanting to avoid evil or to attain good, so what can we do? Look for the power to do so, since I am a machine that needs to be fuelled. I look for fuel without having to answer the question “why?”

When a person truly reaches the state of faith above reason, there is no reason for him to observe the Mitzva. It says: “The earth is hanging on a thread.” A person only looks for fuel, and this is the only thing he seeks and demands.

Then he even conceals himself so that he wouldn’t be shown the fear or the reward. This means that a person “restricts” himself, not wanting to see the Creator and he escapes from anything that can stand in the way of his freewill, of faith above reason.

Here we come to the point for which there is no calculation in our world and for which there is no way to measure. It is because we use our desires to choose what ensures us a greater profit.

Our freewill begins from this central point onward. From this moment on I am faced with the question: “Why do it?” Those who are trying to push themselves through this question reach spiritual conditions that are above this question.

There is no reason to observe Mitzvot in our world. It is worthless from the perspective of our desires and values.
[92177]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/4/12, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Question: Inner efforts cause pain. Can we say that this pain comes instead of the suffering that comes directly from nature in the form of hurricanes and other natural disasters?

Answer: On the whole the answer is yes. Instead of rebuilding the homes that were destroyed by the hurricane and receiving more terrible blows, we can move on to internal work and make mental efforts. The efforts should be qualitative, although nature obligates us to move to quantitative efforts.

There difference between quality and quantity is enormous. We know this from the laws of the pyramid, which is divided into four levels: the still nature (s), the vegetative (v), the animate (a) and the human (h). On the level of the human we make purposeful efforts.

But other people are on the lowest level. Think about the efforts they have to make to the full width of the pyramid’s base! What a great area the desire covers, how many tons of concrete and iron, how many hours to waste, how many diseases to go through, and what a great lack to be felt!

We are above that level and can change the difficulties and sufferings of billions of people for many years with one click on a button.

But don’t think that pushing the button is easier than a thousand years of hard labor. It isn’t by chance that the people of Israel cried out in the desert and were willing to return to the hard labor in Egypt, to work for Pharaoh, only to avoid pushing the button.

This is the essence of the decision a person has to make, and so our world will not disappear until the end of correction.

By pushing that button you have to be aware and to realize what is happening, you cannot just click it and be surprised by the outcomes; in spirituality you push the button only after knowing all the actions you go through. In other words the form of redemption is already in the exile.

You have to imagine the process; otherwise you have no choice, because choosing means that you understand the future and that you choose it.

Qualitatively this work is more difficult than the ordinary work. So even though they could do it, they cried out: “Let’s go back! Let’s switch this work with the previous kind of work!”

Question: Why do Kabbalists say that the path of the Torah is easier than the path of sufferings?

Answer: You are trying to weigh two different things with the same scale: a quantum of Light with billions of tons of rocks. Can they be compared? The inner energy of the Light is a billion times greater than the physical weight of the rocks. But these things are incomparable in your egoistic perception, in your imaginary senses. First we have to change our scale of values. It is written: “A righteous is the foundation of the world.” His power and value are much greater than that of all of humanity. Without him people cannot do anything, they don’t exist in spirituality at all. So you cannot weigh the two types of efforts by the same instrument.

Question: Will everyone have to push that button eventually?

Answer: No, not even all the children of Israel, which means all those who yearn straight to the Creator. Everyone participates in pushing the button, but it is hard to say who will have the leading role in the future.

On the one hand, a person cannot advance without a leader. In every generation there must be someone who pulls forward and leads others. On the other hand, there may be something similar to the Sanhedrin, a group of people who are ready and able to find the general force that will lead the people by the connection among them. I don’t think that anyone can provide a clear prognosis, but it doesn’t matter. The main thing is that we are advancing. What is necessary is what will happen. The lack of knowledge in this case is not a problem.

One way or the other, everyone will participate in the process and until the end of correction, until the last click, we will all be in the pyramid. Only the Light of the end of correction will turn the line into a circle. The levels of the spiritual ladder don’t change, and only when all of Malchut enters the correction and reaches Keter and becomes equal to it, do all the forms disappear, except for the circle.

Question: Is that button the love of others?

Answer: Yes, but through the love of others, we yearn for the love of the Creator—we must remember that.
[92149]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/4/12, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Question: We are now undergoing a period of increased internal work in the group, and some of our friends had the impression that in this connection we can significantly reduce our dissemination activity to dedicate ourselves more fully to internal work.

Answer: All our work consists of two opposites. Rabash wrote in his articles that the problem is that we are seemingly cut inside ourselves, divided into internal and external. And the world around us seems divided into internal and external. That is why it is necessary to understand how to be in contact with it.

In this regard, we often devote more time to our internal unity, and then let it go a little and become engaged in dissemination. It all depends on the condition of our surroundings.

Now we are preparing for a big convention in Russia. We hope that hundreds of our friends will participate in it, those who had not even had a direct visual connection with us.

I see this convention as a very important one and that is why the unity that we have to reach there naturally holds all our attention. Thus, while external dissemination is important for us, the internal one is more important.

Thus, we are moving. Like the throbbing of the heart, all our work moves through inhaling-exhaling, and the entire world is in this motion. Compression and expansion alternating with each other, and thus we advance: along the right and left lines. Everything is arranged alternately.

So, do not completely close either of these lines. Sometimes, we just have to move the focus from one part to another, from internal to external and vice versa. So, in any case you shouldn’t panic that we stop external dissemination, and most importantly inner dissemination.

Still, on the eve of the convention, we have to try to prepare for it more, that is, to unite, and try to bring to the convention all those who study with us in various places, especially in the region of Siberia, the Far East, the southern parts of Russia, and adjacent countries.

Taking this opportunity, I would like to stress once again the importance of this congress and to invite all the individuals, all the doubters, and those who communicate in the virtual space in different parts of the endless expanses of Siberia and that region. I hope that they all will find strength, means, and time to meet with us.

There is still a huge mass of people who are somewhere alone, far away from each other, and it is desirable that they attend our conventions at least once. I hope that they have this opportunity. Let them connect, at least with the convention organizers, and even if they are not going to attend, they should write to us so we know where they are. And if suddenly they decide to come after all, we can help them.
[92163]
From a Virtual Lesson 10/28/12

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Question: If the Creator is love and endless truth, then how is it possible to connect to His frequency?

Answer: The Torah speaks in the language of people, and therefore we associate the Creator with our own properties.

In reality we live in a world of laws. I am in front of a law. I am in some space where a single force acts, and I can attract its influence on me to a greater or smaller extent. Thus, the force does not change, I am the one who changes.

But, in my mind, I transfer my changes to it, and this leads to confusion. I want the Creator to love me more, despite the fact that His love is already complete. I want Him to bestow to me more, despite the fact that He already bestows on me 100 percent. I ask Him for good, I beg Him to replace His justice with mercy, but how can you plead to the absolute? What changes can be expected from the force of Good that constantly does good to both good and bad people? So imagine that Creator doesn’t hear, doesn’t feel, but just gives all the time, always bestows.

You are built in such a way that you feel your state in the desire to receive. The desire feels what fills it, and this awareness causes certain feelings. We have feelings, and therefore we always talk about our emotional reaction to something. For example, if I will touch you with an electrical wire with a voltage of 100 volts, then you will feel it. The problem here is not in the electrical wire and not in the desire itself, but in the contact between them, in the touch, and that is what gives birth to the sense. In such a way, all the feelings are born inside us, and not in the Creator, but we, as though, ascribe our feelings to Him.

Therefore, it’s best not to imagine the Creator as someone alive. We deal with a law, and to the extent of the changes within us, we rediscover its influence. Here everything depends only on our sensitivity, our perception.
[92043]    
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/2/12, “Preface to The Book of Zohar”

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A replica of the last shattered spiritual level is revealed in us as the corporeal world, which we feel with our five senses. At the same time both matter and the senses are imaginary, and they depict spiritual contours, like a picture on a wall. The picture is old, but it isn’t real. Reality is there behind the wall and there is only a projection on the wall.

People watch movies and experience different feelings, is it real or not? These are just reactions and impressions. It is as if we are living in a movie that is being projected to us.

But besides the movie, I don’t see anything and don’t know anything. My whole life takes place in it and goes through it and so all my feelings reflect this movie. My sight, my hearing, my sense of smell, and touch are all reflected in this movie.

Today we are being shown three-dimensional films that present an even greater reality. It is no secret that a person can be placed in a certain sphere and be shown that it is his life; if he gets used to his tiny world, it would be hard to prove to him that there is an external reality, “Here there are human beings, and here is the earth, and here are the stars, everything is in its place. …” He doesn’t leave the limits of this sphere in his senses. For him there is nothing beyond the limits of his current feelings. He doesn’t feel a deficiency for something in some extra sense or that his reality is inferior.

Today, I too, by using my five senses, perceive only what is inside my sphere. Where is the extra sense, a vessel that cannot be filled by anything that is here, no matter how hard you try? The extra deficiency is called a “point in the heart” (•) and it is aimed at what is outside our universe. When a person feels this desire, he doesn’t find his place, he begins to search and eventually he finds us. Our goal is to connect him with the outside world. He needs to break out, outside the “fence” and get rid of it.

The whole point is that our sphere is built as a replica of the upper world, and they are similar. We should only use what is here correctly. I take my spark, the point in the heart, and insert it into the mutual relations with the friends, as if I want to love them. Then I see that I actually don’t want that, but the deficiency has already been created, and the spark already has a direction and I can demand correction.

So the main thing is to insert my spark into the “playing field” and to force myself to play according to the rules. By this game I acquire a real mind and the right deficiency. Thus from a demo model, from a parallel similar form, I can move on to the real world.

This world is merely an imaginary “playing field” and only my spark is real. This tiny “point in the heart” is a Godly part from Above, and if I use it correctly in the game, I succeed and I grow.
[92099]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/4/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam (The Rungs of the Ladder), Volume I, Article 12, “What is Torah and the Work in the Way of the Creator”: It turns out that a person has to make great efforts before he begins to study, so that his study will bear fruit and good results, this means that the study should bring him the Light of the Torah, that can reform him.

First we must develop the right desire, in fact, it is indispensible. A person reaches the wisdom of Kabbalah only with a “point in the heart,” which has no direction yet. He doesn’t know where he has arrived or where he is, like a drop of semen in the womb. In this case, it is the group that plays the role of the womb, and it has to “format” a person, to give him a form, and to exert influence. We shouldn’t wait for him to act correctly. We should be careful if he “shows off,” since the show should be the group’s show.

There are those who come full of energy and begin to work, for them it is really a positive approach, but it is definitely not in the right direction. And were can he find it? From his egoistic actions? A person hasn’t even had the chance to discover the evil inclination yet and is still on a lower degree.

So the group should gently control a new student in order to give him the right form, the right direction And when a person feels that “reins and a bridle” are placed on him, he is obliged to accept it since he has no other choice. The group must control everyone.

The friends must look for the evil inclination and the lack of connection. We yearn for connection; we clarify to what extent our qualitative and quantitative parameters are correct; whether it suits our requirements and satisfies us, until we discover the Creator’s form in the connection.

We go through the levels of Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya and Yechida on each of the 125 degrees. In search for connection, we discover a deficiency and draw the Light that Reforms during the study. Thus the study becomes purposeful and I constantly check myself not according to how much I understand or not, or how interesting it is or not. This has nothing to do with what we do, the study is a time of healing, a time of clarification, a time of drawing the Light of correction. All this is in accordance with our deficiency, which we discover during the preparation for the lesson, we discover it during the friends’ meetings and in our collective actions and then we come to the lesson with the demand for the Light that Reforms.

In this demand we are different from the rest of the world. People feel that they are righteous; they don’t demand the Light that Reforms; they are satisfied with what they do, like all those who don’t even think about it. We need to constantly assess ourselves according to the deficiency for the Light and the Light itself.

When I first came to Rabash, I asked him after a couple of months: “What is the main thing about working with the book? Where is the essence of our world during the morning lesson described?” Then he showed me item 17 in the “Introduction to TES,” where it says: “And so a person who studies is committed before he studies to strengthen his faith in the Creator and His Providence in reward and punishment” since this is important. Our only work is to prepare the desire for change through the exertion in the group. On the whole we discover that we cannot do that and it is only there that we should perform the correction. With this recognition, we reach the study again.

Thus while we study we discover a deficiency and on the other hand we are corrected and healed.

So accordingly “a person should make great efforts before he begins to study.” And if in the meantime we don’t attain the right results, then we should check whether we come to study with the right intention. Otherwise we study in order to acquire knowledge from a certain book instead of drawing the Light as is required from the Torah.

So there is “wisdom” and there is “Torah.” And a person who simply wants to know what is written in the book deals with wisdom, and a person who looks for correction and who wants to change himself deals with the Torah, with the true method. This is the whole difference…
[92067]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/4/12

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We speak quite a lot about the importance of the goal and the Creator’s greatness without which we cannot work, since we need power. But the question is what do I need the Creator’s greatness for? Is it a condition under which I will agree to bestow, or do I want to attain bestowal and in order to do that I need the Creator’s greatness? This is the whole difference: Am I working within reason and below it, or am I working in faith above reason?

I have a condition that I want to feel the Creator’s greatness since otherwise I won’t be able to work, so it is an action within reason. But if I say that I must reach bestowal since it is the most important thing for me, and I ask for the power that I don’t have at the moment so that it will enable me to bestow, and for me it is just a means, it means that I want this greatness only in order to work in faith above reason.

This is a very subtle difference, which I have to clarify internally. It is impossible to express it in words since they only confuse us.

Rabash says: “So when a person doesn’t feel the Creator’s greatness, the body cannot nullify itself before Him in all of one’s heart and soul.” It is a law: The desire to receive surrenders only before the Creator’s greatness.

“But if a person puts the condition that he agrees to work for the Creator only if he will see the Creator’s importance and greatness, already it appears that he wants to get something from the Creator.” This means that a person wants the burden he will suffer to be light. If you know that a suitcase belongs to an important person, then it isn’t difficult for you to carry it. “Otherwise one doesn’t want to work with all his heart, since a person is limited and is under the domination of the concealment and is not free to say that he doesn’t want anything but only to bestow.”

If a person places the Creator’s greatness as a precondition for his work, then this state cannot be a state of Bina and cannot serve as an “ark” for him in which he can be saved from all the doubts and the problems sent to him by the left line.

So the attribute of Bina is Hafetz Hesed, which doesn’t need to receive anything; therefore, it is free. Only those who need to receive something are limited and subject to the opinions of others. If someone works with his eyes closed and doesn’t need greatness or anything else, it is called freedom.
[92040]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/31/12, Writings of Rabash

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While reading The Book of Zohar we have to want to reveal unity and to attain what we are learning. In this book I read about spiritual states, but where are these states? If I would prepare a correct desire while reading this book, then I would reveal what’s written in it. This is called “attaining what is learned.”

All of these states exist. However, my problem is that I can only reveal them in according to the perception of my vessel (desire, Kli.) This is why while reading The Book of Zohar, which tells me about various spiritual states, I have to think of how I can position my vessel, my “plate” in order to receive the revelation of the described states.

What constitutes this vessel? What type and what shape should the desire be in order for me to receive and to reveal that which we read about in The Zohar? I have to think about this. That is, I have to take care of the Kelim, the vessels, the desires. Can I influence it in anyway? What depends upon me: the type of vessel, involvement of various desires and intentions in it. What do I need so that the “plate” where I’ll reveal the spiritual wouldn’t be broken, but empty and whole.
[91891]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/31/12, The Zohar

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Question: Why does the Creator demand that we keep laws that we don’t even know?

Answer: Today we are on the levels of material nature, the still (s), the vegetative (v) and the animate (a). Here we exist; here we have science and many other means.

But it is about laws on the speaking level that belong to the spiritual nature. We don’t know it, we cannot do anything with it, but we still have to ascend to it. This is why we go through sufferings that push us forward. This is why the sufferings come from the highest level that is now gradually being revealed in us, but in a negative form.

On the animate level you had everything and felt good about it (+!). Everything was great. Suddenly, however, the opposite is gradually being revealed, a great minus, sufferings: what can we do? We don’t know.

Baal HaSulam says, and we also know it from history, that sufferings are revealed in every state so that it will seem unbearable and so that we will rise to the next level. This is how we advance.

So today the sufferings are also meant to push us to the next state. Do you want to wait? Then they will be much greater. After all, it is about a qualitative gap here and not a quantitative one. Before, when there was a shortage of food, we could invent some agricultural machine, and when there were not enough means to build windmills we used to borrow money from other people or from the bank, and thus invest my part in developing the economic system. But today we don’t know what to do. You are right about that.

But there is no other way; the laws of nature will not be revealed on the current level. The only way is to reach a state of balance with nature. In other words, we have to be integral, “round.” We need unity and equality among people—everything that is related to integrality. In addition we need equality and balance with nature.

Otherwise each of us would want to be a billionaire. But it isn’t enough to just make people equal, we also need to discover such equality among us on the corporeal level of necessary consumption, so that everyone will unite equally in order to reach unified mutual guarantee. Thus we will discover the fundamental force in nature from which all the other forces are derived and all the other laws.

If we don’t do that, the sufferings will increase until they reach an atrocious extreme. The prophets tell us about it; it is a law. Nature will do everything in order to compel us to reach the predetermined goal.

Question: So if we take the hurricane in America as an example, should we understand that the problem is with us, with those who understand all this?

Answer: We are to blame since we don’t disseminate this message to others, and so they don’t understand it and don’t change. We are the guilty ones.

It is true that we are “improving” and getting closer to one another and thanks to that we are still allowed to study and to prepare. In the meantime we advance and even close the gap a little, but if we lag behind, we will feel terrible blows.

The key is clearly in our hands, and therefore we are more vulnerable to problems and troubles. All the problems in the world are our fault. We have to understand that it is a sign for us. If we don’t stop the negative global trend, the troubles will reach us.

The only means is connection among us. External dissemination is minor; the main thing is the work among us. If we were totally immersed in connection with the right intention and dedicated all our actions to disseminating our materials in the world, it would be an ideal implementation, the best possible. The intentions should be internal and the actions external. We must only yearn for that along the way, otherwise things will be bad.
[91856]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/31/12, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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All of our work is divided into small parts that we need to join together. They appear in the sequence of the Reshimot (informational genes) that are revealed, which we must realize. A man’s role is not to forget that and to try to organize his environment so that it will constantly arouse him and help him to overcome more and more severe obstacles.

One needs to understand that in every moment we execute a new action, and we never repeat the same act. Although, it can appear to us that the same problems repeat themselves, it is because in the meantime we don’t feel the new distinctions in each awakening.

But it is said that no moment resembles another. Thus we need to believe that each time we work on new properties and correct them. If with each moment we join them to the group and within the group they are directed to the Creator, to adhesion, and correction via connection, then in this we realize our Reshimot.

And all of this work is done through strengthening and clarifications, which are opposed to our feelings and mind, through constant strengthening of the environment to make it more strong, pressing, and demanding. If we always prepare for the new conditions to overcome, it will take us to the next moment, then all of these moments will connect and join together into a great amount.

All the pennies eventually add up to a great treasure. Like the Kabbalistic parable where a man enters the King’s treasury many times with a small cup, fills it with gold coins and goes out. But the guard standing at the entrance spills his cup of coins each time and leaves the man with an empty cup. Again he returns to the treasury and again the guard spills the coins that are in the cup.

This is repeated many times until he completely despairs. It is not that he despairs from the work itself, because each time he enters the treasury, he believes that it is the last attempt and that it will be successful. But simply the time allotted to him is over and it wasn’t up to him, and suddenly he was told, “All the gold that you took out and spilled, now belongs to you.” All those pennies, all the strengthening, joined into one big Masach (screen), and all the drops of Light merged into one big Light.

Thus our work is done in parts; otherwise, we wouldn’t have the strength to execute it all at once. Thus, penny by penny, it adds up to a great amount. And the main thing is the environment that constantly stands on guard and reminds us of our commitment to join all the moments into one goal.
[91830]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/31/12

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