Baal HaSulam, The Writings of the Last Generation: This is what happened to the Germans who had been thought to have been one of the most civilized nations and who, overnight, became a nation of savages, the most horrible of the primitive societies that ever existed in the world. Moreover, Hitler was chosen by the majority.

We are dealing with the question about human society: How do we progress? It seems that from generation to generation, we become more advanced. But in what sense are we more developed? Is it science and technology or social structure? Or, perhaps, we evolve in our human values? The latter is specifically incorrect.

Egoism increases over the course of all of history; however, we don’t reform it, and as it accumulates, we are getting worse. Instead of the true correction, we coat and cover our egoism so that it wouldn’t get out of hand and bother us while we live. Otherwise, we would simply eat one another up. Essentially, from generation to generation, we become increasingly skilled at concealing our ego, while hatred still keeps growing.

We have an opportunity to “scamper around,” hide behind the telephones, computers, and all other kinds of screens, and it helps. Everybody has a room or even an apartment; everyone drives their own car, not picking anybody up; people don’t get married and break their blood ties. In short, we erect a shield, a curtain, between the outbreaks of human egoism and, thereby, continue to live as if everything is alright.

It escapes us, but the services that we develop in the modern society are destined to free the space for everybody to live in order to prevent a confrontation with others. State and medical insurance, retirement plans, vacations are all the examples of our attempts to give a person more and more opportunity to feel independent from the society and isolate himself from another’s ego. We strive to allow and teach everybody to stay inside himself and not come out for the rest of his life.

As a result, our nature doesn’t get corrected, and this is why it has become a lot more ruthless than it used to be in the previous millennia. We simply learned to keep it tucked away, and hence, we are caught in the illusion that our civilization is still progressing.

In reality, however, it isn’t so difficult to awaken our egoism, to show our evil in the most vivid way. After all, it is raging within, and all one needs to do is open the valve—it will pour out like a flood.

Moreover, it will pour out to such an extent that man will be ready to do anything, without any empathy, since he doesn’t feel the others under his ego’s shell. He will kill, slaughter children and adults, families, and entire nations. He will sort people out for himself: He is a black, she is a white; he is a Jew, she is a gypsy, and so on. One can invent thousands of criteria or reasons to kill: the elderly have already lived their lives, those infants are born defective, and so forth.

In other words, without any regret or remorse, but rather proudly and in cold blood, man will do to others whatever he wants because he does not feel that they are humans as well, who have the right to exist like he does. We are not talking about Germans, but about all of us, while we remain uncorrected. If our egoistic desire awakens in the open, we will all become like this. It happened to Germans precisely because they were the most advanced, while today it can be any other nation.

Many nations have already sufficiently evolved for Nazism to manifest through them naturally and easily. They will feel no shame doing anything at all and will act according to the same calculations that the Germans had used to extinguish the Jews and other peoples. Today, the majority of the world is prepared for it. If we don’t reform our egoism, the tiniest excuse, a smallest spark, is going to be enough, and people will actualize their ego by the book: mercilessly, methodically, and accurately. They will come and destroy.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/2011 on Holocaust Memorial Day

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Baal HaSulam, The Writings of the Last Generation: There is no hope at all that the Nazis will die off when the allies win because tomorrow the Anglo-Saxons will embrace Nazism, since they are also in the world of democracy and Nazism.

No developed nation can avoid a Nazi regime unless we prevent this disease by taking a powerful remedy, unless egoism, which is integrally locked onto itself, is reformed. Why is Nazism, especially fascism, so attractive? “Fascio” in Italian means a bond, unity. This is the answer to why people gravitate to being one whole. Therefore, it specifically threatens the developed nations. Their ego is growing, and they are starting to feel the need to unite since it is programmed in nature.

But their actions are based on the forces of egoism: People give up personal gains and become a unified nation. They want to be totally equal, if not in terms of possessions, then at least in terms of general solidarity. Peasant and prime minister alike, they share the national pride which they place above all other peoples.

This is, in fact, a type of “national unity” that our development is asking for, a response to the demand of the time, which doesn’t include correction of egoism. In other words, fascism is the answer to nature’s calling for unity. The calling itself is clear; it feels timely and right, and in order to get stronger, people start looking at other nations with disdain. In their eyes, the other nations are far from, don’t understand or feel, and are not ready for this calling.

This is where all dictators, who bring a nation together, all Nazis, and fascists come from. Essentially, they answer a certain question. And hence, the danger is still hanging over us. It has not yet passed for humanity, and the events of the 20th century were a mere “demonstration” of what can still be. Fascism and Nazism are still threatening us.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/2011 on Holocaust Memorial Day

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Question: During the Holocaust, not only the ideologists but also the entire nation hated the Jews….

Answer: Let’s put it this way: The entire nation was willing to accept the ideas of genocide without feeling any shame and guilt. It is a war, an ideological war, in which victory can be achieved only one way: by exterminating the nation which has an opposite idea.

Nowadays, tens of peoples can take the same course which the Germans took before. And everyone will instantly feel that, first and foremost, it is the Jews who are their rival and nemesis. Besides, it doesn’t matter what neighboring country a nation will be fighting with: “We have a war party going on here, but it’s all the Jews’ fault.”

Any nation that chooses the path of fascism will inevitably attack Israel with ideology. This is programmed in nature; there is nothing we can do about it.

Therefore, our only responsibility is to expedite correction. We must get corrected and unify, become a model and “a light unto the nations.” And then they’ll understand that it is the right, perfect example which doesn’t just provide a solution on the level of this world, but also elevates a person to the spiritual degree, the eternal life.

Having demonstrated such a model, we will be able to prevent the Third and the Fourth World Wars and all the misfortunes that might follow. There is no other solution. And hence, everyone who understands what danger is threatening the entire Jewish nation and all of humanity must participate in correction with all their strength and heart.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/2011 on Holocaust Memorial Day

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Question: How do the horrors of the Holocaust combine with the principle of “There is none else besides Him” and “He is good that does good”?

Answer: There is none else besides the Creator; He is consistently good and does good, while we are opposite to Him. And hence, not reforming ourselves, we provoke the development and strengthening of the negative forces. In the world, only we possess free will. In reality, there is a balance of forces. However, in the process of exploring them, man tends to bring into the picture his own resentments, pains, and impressions, as well as worries and fears, along with the burden of his personal history.

When we approach something with our own instruments, we should study natural phenomena rather than the subjective factors that make us laugh or cry. As a true scientist, I research the forces of nature that in our world generated a form called Nazism. Who could have prevented it? Why did everything occur as it did?

This is what the research shows: A force that is good and does good acts upon us from Above, and there is nothing else besides it. The upper Light remains at absolute rest; it is invariable, and its laws are indisputable. One could provide many citations, and all of them prove but one thing: The Creator’s force and the program of creation don’t change because of our cries. They are constant and are moved by the engine that drives us to the end of correction.

The more we correspond to this process, the better our condition is. The less aligned to it we are, the more misfortunes befall us and we feel worse. Everything depends on our choice.

Essentially, the blows we receive assist our correction, but thereby we advance by the path of hardships and pain, which will bring us to the destination at a designated time. If, however, we study the system and seek an opportunity to adapt to it, we can advance along with the system, in accordance with it. Thereby, instead of being hit, we can evolve by taking a pleasant path of hastening time.

One way or the other, everything depends on us, on how we integrate ourselves into the mechanism that advances us and the whole humanity forward. Moreover, we are the only ones who can do it, unlike all other nations. Before anything else, Israel must become a model of a new, integral, global humanity, of “altruistic communism,” as Baal HaSulam defined it.

Having prepared ourselves for it, we will justify our existence. We have been chosen only for this. Only through a small group can the method of correction be brought into the world.

Therefore, there is no other option: We will either accomplish what we are supposed to, and then the entire world will be well, or, God forbid, we will choose the unpleasant path as it previously happened in history. There is no use in sitting and crying; we have to examine and evaluate all the factors and be very serious about it. This is what characterizes sensible and wise people, unlike little children who can only cry, which is exactly what the nation is doing so far.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/2011 on Holocaust Memorial Day

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Question: Can genocide against Jews be singled out as a specific phenomenon?

Answer: It isn’t a mere historical event, but rather a natural phenomenon. It is rooted in nature itself. The extinction of other nations during World War II had particularly to do with Germany’s plans to “cleanup” territories and was purposed to solve the problem of the supply of agricultural products. All of this was calculated in advance.

However, the root of the “Jewish problem” is felt instinctively, starting in ancient times up to this day. The nation of Israel is a special people, the keeper of the method of the correction of the world. Hence, when another nation seeks to enforce its system (let’s say, Nazism) and establish its own world order, it instinctively feels that the world has someone who possesses another method which contradicts their own.

“I claim that unity is possible only if our German people unite and submit the world to their order and their might. The entire Earth must belong to us. However, there is another nation that claims to have the method. It has neither real power, nor a country, nor an army, nothing but an idea. This idea has lived in the Jews for millennia; it is set in nature, and there is nothing I can do. But in the meanwhile, my present solution is totally opposite to theirs.”

This has to do with competing ideologies: “I need to not just suppress the Jews, but to wipe them off the face of the earth. Only their total extinction will prove that I am right, which nature itself, the upper force, the Creator, will support. If, however, I let them live, I won’t be able to prove even to myself that my solution to the problem of national and world unity is correct.

Germans wanted to unify their nation, enforce a correct (from their point of view) order, and in this case, they had no foe more odious than the Jews who had a different method of unifying the world. Ideologists can see it naturally. This is what is rooted in the collective desire of the world.

A note in reference to the topic: Julius Streicher, a racial ideologist executed after the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial convicted him of crimes against humanity for his anti-Semitic propaganda and his call for the genocide, during his execution at the bottom of the scaffold, cried out: “Purim-Fest 1946!” (a Jewish holiday of Purim is the celebration of victory over the enemies of the Jews).
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/2011 on Holocaust Memorial Day

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Baal HaSulam, Beit Shaar HaKavanot (The Gate of Intentions), Chapter “Concerning Passover Exodus”: The first generations, the generation of Enosh and the generation of the Tower of Babel, exiled Shechina upward to the “seventh heaven.”

Israel of the generation of the Egyptian bondage were the same Keri (wasted semen) sparks that Adam HaRishon kept dropping for 130 years until he begot Seth.

The Keri sparks are the Light of Hochma (Wisdom) which intend to receive egoistically, for their own sake. If the Light of Hochma doesn’t reach the right place, which is under the screen, and doesn’t dress in the Light of Hassadim (Mercy), it is regarded as “dropping semen onto the ground” (from Hebrew, “Aretz,” land or ground, and “Ratzon,” desire or will), to “waste” it.

Every person must pass through these degrees, the generations of Enosh and the Tower of Babel, through egoistic desire that doesn’t consider anyone and wishes to receive all pleasures directly, which is regarded as “loss of semen.”

A soul is similar to gold and when it is excavated from under the “ground,” it is mixed with litter, until it is purified so that all dirt falls away and it can be named “gold.”

After the breaking of the vessels that occurred in our roots, in the spiritual world, our souls sank within the desire to receive for self-gratification and became mixed into it completely. There are very few sparks of bestowal that ended up in this egoistic desire, which are very difficult to retrieve from it.

It is similar to gold mining, digging gold from under the ground, when thousands of tons of soil have to be sifted and undergo various processes before a few grams of gold are finally extracted from it. The soil itself doesn’t come from just any location, but rather from where gold had been found before. Nevertheless, truckloads of soil must be brought in and purified, washed in water, and sieved by filters so that a few scarce grams of gold may finally emerge.

The same pertains to our souls after the breaking. Inside enormous egoistic desire, there are mere few scattered sparks that, albeit still egoistic, are able to be corrected in order to bestow. It is they that we gradually must extract, and this is the job we must complete.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/2011,  Beit Shaar HaKavanot

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Writings of Rabash, “The First Innovation”: All the innovations begin only after a person comes out of self-love. Therefore, the Torah cannot be taught to idolaters. When a person is in Egypt, he cannot be Jewish because he is enslaved to Pharaoh, the Egyptian king. And as long as he is a slave to Pharaoh, he cannot be a slave to the Creator.

It is written concerning this, “The sons of Israel are for Me,” they are My slaves and not slaves of slaves. When a person serves himself, he cannot be the Creator’s slave because it is impossible to serve two kings at the same time. Only after a person comes out of Egypt, meaning egoism, can he be the Creator’s servant. And then he can receive the Torah. It follows that the first innovation is the exit from Egypt.

A person who is inside of his egoistic desire is called a “non-Jew.” A person who rises above his egoistic desire, meaning who comes out of Egypt, is called a “Jew” (Yehudi) because he attains unity (Ihud) with the Light, the Creator.

It is possible to study the Torah, meaning the ways of bestowal, only by ascending, by coming out of Egypt. That is why it is written that the Torah cannot be taught to idolaters, where “cannot” means “it is impossible.” That’s because as long as you remain in the egoistic desire, you do not understand anything about spirituality and you don’t have the smallest chance of reaching it. In your desires and thoughts you cannot grab hold of the end of any thread that extends from the spiritual world.

You need auxiliary means, and only by correctly using them will you attain what you desire. Therefore, all the innovations and spiritual changes are possible only after coming out of Egypt, meaning egoism. Until then, it is impossible to understand anything. Until then, we are in total darkness and can only advance with our eyes closed according to the Kabbalists’ advice.

This is all that remains for us—to understand how opposite our world is to the spiritual world. In order to climb out of the darkness to the Light, it won’t help us to turn 180 degrees around. That’s because our darkness is the darkness of Egypt, which does not have a direction toward the Light. Only gradually, by means of making the right actions do we reach the right desire. Even though it is also egoistic, yet by virtue of the Light’s influence we can then come out of Egypt into the altruistic intention of Lishma.

This is talking about states that are absolutely divided from one another. A person who is in the lower world, meaning in the egoistic state, in the intention “for the sake of reception” is unable to understand the plans and actions of those who are moved by bestowal. One does not have any contact with the other. They are completely different programs that do not intersect with one another in any way.

In relation to the spiritual world, our world does not exist. It is expressed only in a person’s imagination as a preliminary, imaginary reality that is necessary for entering the spiritual reality, which is the only one that exists. Everything we see and imagine here is similar to the visions of a person who lies unconscious.

Therefore, all the innovations, attainments, and true calculations begin with the exit from Egypt.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/11, Writings of Rabash

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People view Passover as the holiday of the historical exodus from Egypt. “We used to be slaves and we built several cities and pyramids for Pharaoh, and then we came out to freedom.” However, in realty we are not celebrating a date in the historical calendar. After all, the situation today is much worse than back then. It’s enough to compare the situation of the nation of Israel in Ancient Egypt with the current situation and you would be running back to kiss Pharaoh’s hands, begging him to let you back.

The Jews lived in the land of Goshen, which was the most favorable part of Egypt with the most fertile soil and abundant herds. You could do whatever you want because Pharaoh doesn’t just rule there but he protects you as well. No one can touch a hair on your head, your vats are full of meat, your nets—full of fish, and your storehouses are full of produce. You are a slave only because you have to listen to Pharaoh. This means: Act by the orders of your egoism, and nothing more than that.

The Jews had a wonderful life, so it wasn’t incidental that they complained to Moses in the desert, “Where are the meat and fish, where is the onion and garlic that we ate in Egypt!? Our lives were great, and where have you brought us now?”

So what do we remind ourselves of on this holiday? Were we surrounded by enemies back then the way we are today? On the contrary, we had all the favors at our disposal and Pharaoh’s power protected us from enemies. In his country he allowed us to live however we wanted, even on separate territory and by our own laws. So what’s so bad about that compared to the current situation?

As Baal HaSulam writes, if the Jews today could disperse all over the countries of the Diaspora, then almost no one would be left in Israel. We have to understand: Egypt becomes a dungeon only when you start to think about spiritual exile, when you lack the Creator. If not for the need for spiritual redemption, Egypt by itself is a land flowing with milk and honey. Here you have everything besides the Creator, besides the answer to the question about the meaning of life. You have everything else in abundance. You are living the life of a king and you lack just one thing, “I want bestowal and love for the neighbor.”

When you desire precisely this, then Egypt will seem like exile to you. This is the only thing missing here—love for the neighbor. Thus, it turns out that we celebrate Passover to commemorate the good life in Egypt and not the redemption, which no one really needs. After all, coming out of Egypt means throwing away everything we have besides love.

Do we feel that we are in exile? On the contrary, people do not understand what this is talking about. But love for the neighbor has to become your only desire. Moses demands from Pharaoh, “Let my people go! I want to leave!” To which Pharaoh replies, “What do you lack, Moses? You grew up in my arms. Stay the Egyptian prince. Be a prince! Why are you making a revolution here? For the sake of love for the neighbor? You’ve gone crazy!”

Only at the end of the path does Egypt become a land of exile for us. But until that happens, we are satiated with everything besides bestowal.

It turns out that we celebrate this holiday to honor the fact that we once lacked love for the neighbor. If only it were possible to really explain this to the people and to show them the true situation today. Today are we willing to forgo anything in our rich lives for the sake of love for the Creator, for the neighbor, for friends, for the sake of mutual bestowal and mutual empathy? Are we close to this? Do we deserve to celebrate the holiday of redemption?

This is talking about freedom from egoism, when egoism has everything, yet I want to run away from this. I hate this abundance and I don’t desire it. I don’t need the filling food, nor the safety, nor the comfort, nor the health—nothing. I am ready to drown in the waters of the Marginal Sea or to dry up from thirst in the desert—anything to break out of the bonds.

So do we really want to get out to freedom?
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/13/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: What should I do if I am not Jewish and I don’t celebrate Passover?

Answer: Go ahead, celebrate it—what’s the problem? Why can’t you be related to it? After all, you belong to “Israel,” the desire that aspires straight to the Creator (Yashar-El).

Besides, you can celebrate this holiday in honor of the fact that there used to be a group of Kabbalists that went through the entire path of corrections and then broke up in order to help us re-ascend again today. By celebrating Passover, we associate ourselves with this group: not with a nation, but namely with a group of Kabbalists.

Every person wishing to climb out of the current state into the spiritual world has to respect and value this group, which has gone through the path and written books with instructions for us that we can use to advance forward as well. We celebrate and honor our teachers, without any connection to national belonging. We belong to this group and want to be related to it.

Later, when we enter the spiritual world, we will discover that we are together with them, that our group does not only include the friends from the whole world, but also them. Mostly they are all the Kabbalists of all the generations who once turned away from Babylon in order to take the spiritual path. And we are in their group.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/13/11, Writings of Rabash

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Our egoism is “help from the opposite,” which we have to use in order to ascend to the Creator’s level. And it works in two areas. The first is a person’s connection with the group where his egoism works against “Israel” (the intention “straight to the Creator”). The second is when our ego comes forth against the only force that controls the world, meaning against the Creator. Our ego rises up against these two forces and resists them by every means possible and at every moment. That is why all of our work is aimed only at this.

The more we aspire to attain a connection among us in bestowal, love, and mutual guarantee, the faster we will reveal that we are incapable of this! And then we will have to turn to the Creator and deal with Pharaoh who stands against Him. We know from the story of Egyptian slavery that Moses, the leader of the nation of Israel who spoke with the Creator, did not appear right away. All of this occurs after many years of exile in Egypt when the nation of Israel already cried out from the difficult work and screamed out to the Creator. Only then did one Jewish woman give birth to a boy Moses, and then this entire story begins to unfold. This new force called Moses rises up in a person.

That is where the work against Pharaoh begins. We discern whether it is worth it for us to attract the upper force in order to create a connection in the group that will fuse us together as one nation with one heart, so much that we will reveal the Creator inside of that unity. That is to say, the work takes places in two areas. First of all, this is difficult work that made “the sons of Israel cry out,” which is when we want to build our spiritual vessel (desire) and are unable to. And then we scream, not knowing what to do.

That is when the second phase begins, where we discern: Whom do we yell at and how? We have to reveal the upper force. We want it to be present inside of our union, and not just in order to make our connection with each other come true. Our entire connection has to happen in order to reveal the force fo the Creator, the force of bestowal and love.

We work through these two phases, and as long as we don’t complete them fully, uniting all of Israel and attracting the Creator instead of Pharaoh inside of us, we will not be able to come out of Egypt. This exodus occurs as an escape in darkness, extremely rushed.

There are several steps that we have to make in the direction of this exodus. The Light that illuminates these steps leads us to realize that there is just one upper force, “There is none else besides Him.” Only He influences us and leads us through all of these steps and all of the states. All of our sensations, thoughts, and desires comes to us from above. What depends on us is only one single point of freedom: To relate everything that is happening to the Creator.

We realize this free choice in the group by uniting as one man in order to reveal Him, and He is present inside of the group. That is how we prepare for the exodus from Egypt in order to ascend above our ego and to shift to being ruled by the force of bestowal.

This is the greatest event in a person’s life. It’s not an accident that the whole Torah starts with the Exodus, and the month when it happens is called the beginning of all the months. The beginning is enumerated from the exodus from Egypt because all of the Torah and all spiritual life is built only on this foundation. This is the beginning of a “human being” who starts to grow up from the animate existence, the growing force of faith called the force of the Creator, which rises above the earthly, animate knowledge. All of this begins with the exodus from the egoistic Egypt.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/10/11, Writings of Rabash

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