Question: Baal HaSulam writes that before starting to study Kabbalah, it is necessary to understand what it is. How can everyone learn its language if it’s so complicated?

Answer: To understand what the wisdom of Kabbalah is means to acquire the screen in order to rise above one’s egoism and see spiritual actions. Then, you will be able to understand a Kabbalist teacher and learn from him what to do next. You will comprehend and be able to verify all that he will tell you in practice, right here right now, as it is done by regular students in this world.

But until you are born in spirituality, how can I explain anything to you? It is as if I would be telling about this world to an unborn child that is still in the mother’s womb. So do Kabbalists speak to us from another world. We reside in this world, within its sphere, like in a bubble, while we are being told what is taking place outside of it.

Therefore, Kabbalistic texts work for us only as “miraculous remedy” (Segula). The articles are written for the beginners, but The Study of the Ten Sefirot is written for those who have been born in spirituality, who are already "spiritual babies" that can be told about the upper world. Thanks to it, they will advance and will start exploring the new world they were born into.

As for those who are still inside the mother’s womb, it is only a stimulus, motivation to be born as soon as possible.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/14/2011, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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How do we advance in a group? Together we know that our goal is to attain love and bestowal. And the force of correction only comes to us through studying the corrected system. This is the wisdom of Kabbalah.

This is why we unite and study together as we build the maximum intention for unity. Along the path we discover real hatred (Sinnah), Mount Sinai, between us, but at the same time we discover the need to attain love and bestowal. After all, there is no other solution—this is the goal. And that is how we gradually advance.

A person strives toward love of friends, checking his efforts and successes, and to him this is no different than being close to the Creator. Even though the Creator is concealed, these two corrections—work with the neighbor and work with the Creator—are similar, in fact, identical.

This is because a “neighbor” is everything that exists outside of a person’s desire, be it the Creator or a friend. Both of them are as one since they are both foreign to man. Thus, if he is able to entrust himself in relation to a friend, he needs to know that by doing this he entrusts himself in relation to the Creator.

Besides, in the group he receives help from friends because they expect work from him and they motivate him to do it. That is why he can definitely succeed here.

We unite with the friends as must as possible in order to correct the quality of our unity through the study. This is the method. And when we do this with the purpose of attaining bestowal and love for the Creator, we structure ourselves according to the principle of “Israel, Torah, and the Creator are one.” When we unite with the friends through the study of Kabbalah, we evoke the Light that Reforms, the inner force in us, the Creator. Then we reach unity with Him through the unity between us.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabaah Lesson 2/15/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: Why am I unable to clearly comprehend the importance of the environment?

Answer: You feel that you do not fully comprehend its importance because you are not finding the corresponding desire within you. You understand the words, but your heart is not responding yet. Sometimes you even get sick and tired of hearing about it.

This is natural. You just need to continue working on the common desire. Everyone has to begin thinking that this is important and that this is exactly what we need. We artificially strive to care for one another: I care for others so they would direct their thoughts towards the goal together with me. I constantly worry about it and then a real fear ripens inside me: Will they be able to keep their thoughts on the goal?

And then the heart of the group appears before me, not their names or faces, but the deep desire that reigns among the friends. Is everyone’s desire ready to unite with others so all of them would aim at the goal? This is what concerns me. If this comes true, then we will attract a little bit of Light to this common desire over a brief period of study, and then we will attain the goal.

The problem is not the Light that influences us. The problem is for all of us to connect our desires to be together on the path to the goal. Primarily, this is the concern that has to settle in everyone’s heart. This is mutual guarantee.

When we have a common desire, it “flows” from one part of the friends to another, and therefore it is always working. When we strive to study in order to realize this desire and we don’t get distracted by any other goals, then we evoke the Light with this common desire that’s aimed at mutual bestowal, the Creator. Then we will be full of desire as we prepare to study and during the study.

There can be nothing beyond this. It is written: “Habakkuk came and reduced everything to one thing: a righteous man will live by his faith.” The greatest effect comes from an action by which you want to attain bestowal. Bestowal is also referred to as “faith.”

At the end, this is a very simple thing. Overall, Kabbalah keeps being revealed in an increasingly simplified manner. And even though the path is difficult and it takes years, we have the opportunity to greatly accelerate our development.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/15/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: In regular science I study its terminology and formulas, and gradually I start to understand the laws by which reality operates. But why is it that I don’t understand anything when studying the science of Kabbalah?

Answer: First of all, you can study and somehow discuss what is written, and imagine the laws of Kabbalah even though it does not talk about our world and you do not really see them. But you do not need anything more than that. If you aspire to this form of bestowal, this is enough in order for you to start changing yourself.

The science of Kabbalah is used completely differently than the sciences of our world. When you study a triangle in geometry, you do not become a triangle! But in Kabbalah when you study Partzuf ZON, you turn into Partzuf ZON. You aspire to it and from it you attract that Light that changes you. This is the entire difference! You take on the same form that you read about.

You develop and advance along the line connecting you with your root of the soul in the world of Infinity, and all your future forms and states are already fixed. You attract Light upon yourself from these future states, and that Light influences you, making you advance.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/15/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: What is the Surrounding Light that we are trying to attract?

Answer: The Light is the upper force, the one, single, and only existing force in the universe. Besides this Force there is only desire, which becomes revealed to us as a receiving desire. Yet by using the force of the Light we can change it to bestowal.

There is nothing besides Light (the Creator) and desire. We simply call Him by different names (such as Surrounding Light, Inner Light, or the Light that Reforms) in order to provide more precise definitions.

The Surrounding Light influences me if I aspire to my next form. Even though I don’t know exactly what that form is like, I study it through a book that describes all sorts of Partzufim, worlds, and Sefirot. That is how I express my desire to ascend there and attain, and that is how I attract this state that I want to attain to myself. It begins to influence me to the extent I aspire to it.

I open myself up and become more sensitive to this influence, to the next state that I must reach. I simply accelerate my development, adding a little bit of my own desire to the natural force that develops me.

I receive this additional desire from the environment. That is how I realize my free choice and receive from them the sensation that it is important to advance to the next state. After all, being in the next state means being more connected with others, canceling myself more, and bestowing more.

I receive this inspiration from the group and then I take it with me when coming to study and aspiring to attain the future form that is more bestowing. Then I am influenced by Light from there because it has the same nature of bestowal that I want to acquire. We have the same desire, the same tendency, and therefore we are close according to the law of equivalence of form.

By myself I do not have any desire for bestowal or spiritual progress. I have zero desire. But then I turn to the group and from them I take "10 pounds” of desire to advance to bestowal and unity among us, and with that desire I come to study. I want to attain the next state with the same force of 10 pounds. My similarity to the Light is measured by this force of 10 pounds, and to that degree it influences my desire, making it similar to the Light.

This is the same Light that fills my next state because it already exists. When I aspire to that future state, the Light begins to shine on me. For now it is called “surrounding” because it must first correct me and only then clothe into me. It works in two stages, performing two actions.

The same phenomena exist in physics: If I come closer to a magnet, then I enter the field of its attraction and influence. Even you and I influence one another. There is a certain field around every person. In fact, there is not one physical body that isn’t surrounded by a field—not even any stone.

Everything operates by the same principle. The closest state you aspire to (your next state) is what influences you. However, there are many fields around you that you do not even relate to yet. You do not yet aspire to them or know anything about them. When you reveal the spiritual world later on, you will see how many different things are happening in it and how many different dimensions exist in it.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/15/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: Why do we have to study to attract the upper Light? Why can’t the Light influence us while working in the group the way it influences a child while he’s playing? Why isn’t it enough for us to play the game of “love for friends” in order to attain that love?

Answer: During the study we try to unite together and we definitely need the Light to develop us. This Light does not come by us just trying to unite together. It has to come to us from the upper world, from the higher state or level.

We do not grow like animals, meaning, we do not grow on the same level. A small child that wants to get older only grows inside his ego, without transforming it “for the sake of bestowal.” He just becomes a more grown-up animal.

But in our spiritual work, at every level we turn our ego to bestowal and that is why we need the Light that Reforms. Therefore, it’s not enough for us to “play” in the group in order to attain love for friends because this love is opposite to our nature. I play love, but by doing that I won’t reach it.

If people wish to unite in order to attain the egoistic goal that our ego understands, such as to win or earn, then they don’t have any problem uniting. But if we have to change our nature, then our ego doesn’t understand why it’s necessary to unite with others, and that’s why we are unable to do so. I hear many complaints. People come to us and perplexedly ask, “These are the relationships that you, Kabbalists have?! But there has to be infinite love here! And instead, look at what’s happening here!” People from outside don’t get it.

If you enter any external society that has a clear egoistic goal, you will see that they are united together because they understand that together they can attain the goal, such as succeeding at some business or building a house. But we cannot unite because unity between us is possible only by breaking the ego, while in the external society it happens by increasing the ego.

That is why we have to additionally evoke the Light that Reforms. Only the Light’s influence can unite us. We can only reveal hatred among us. In the external society, which is united by the egoistic goal, people reveal love among them, whereas we reveal hatred. This is called “Mount Sinai”—the mountain of hatred. Then we will need the Torah—the Light that Reforms because we can only unite with its help.

That is why only hatred becomes revealed in a real group of Kabbalists, and then they have to study in order to attract the Light that will unite them. But the Light unites them only for a moment, and then they reveal hatred once again in order for them to advance further by attracting the Light to them. And that is how they constantly have to attract the Light since otherwise they become immersed in hatred. Hatred is their ego, “help against them,” helping them to advance in this way.

That is why we need the group and we have to try to unite together even though it is clear to us that we won’t attain it on our own. Yet we must try not to hang our heads in the face of this game. And we have to study together in order to attract the Light that Reforms because it has to perform this revolution inside us, since we won’t unite without acquiring the quality of bestowal.

External societies unite egoistically, whereas we unite only by virtue of mutual spiritual bestowal. If the Light influences us and unites us with one another, then in the common Kli between us, we will immediately reveal the Creator. The common force that will become revealed among us is the Creator. Then our desire to enjoy will turn into the desire to bestow.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/15/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: Is it possible to reach the realization of evil in the relationships between us through the virtual group and the computer screen?

Answer: Of course it is. We are in a common desire, so it makes no difference whether we are sitting next to each other. I might be sitting next to you without knowing what your name is or looking at your face. It doesn’t matter whether we are in one building or in different places.

Unity happens through feeling and does not require physical contact. Our world is becoming entirely connected through virtual connections. And that is exactly how our desire will be.

I do not have to sit together with everyone in one room. The sensation of unity is not connected to physical distance, and someone close is not someone who is close physically, but spiritually. Physical distance does not affect desires and sensations. This is true even in our world, in the relationships between people, and moreover in spiritual connection. It is not related to physical distance at all.

Try working in a virtual group and you will see that it makes no difference whether you are sitting together around one table or by your screens.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/15/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: If it is impossible to attract the Light that Reforms without studying the science of Kabbalah, does that mean everyone is obligated to study?

Answer: Of course! That is why Baal HaSulam says that everyone has to “sit at the desks.” But what does it mean “to study”? Studying does not happen through the mind. You don’t have to know anything. You have to study only for the sake of the intention to attract the Light so it would influence you and transform your ego to love, unity.

What’s important isn’t the study, but the result. This is called “the Torah,” as it is written, “I created the ego and I gave the Torah for its correction because the Light contained in it returns one to the Source.” The Light transforms your ego, your hatred for the friends, into bestowal, love, and unity.

This is the entire essence of the Torah. You don’t have to understand anything, but only to change hatred to love.

Question: And the whole world has to do this?

Answer: That’s right. But what does “studying” mean for them? It can even mean watching our broadcasts absentmindedly for half an hour a day. That’s enough. They don’t have to understand anything. Of course, it is necessary to give them a general explanation about freedom of choice and unification since they can understand that. But they do not need real study.

Besides, since the souls are connected with one another, our study will influence them. But they will have to make efforts too.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/15/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: Why is it impossible to attain spirituality naturally, just by doing my work? Why is it that we definitely have to reach despair first, crying and asking the Creator?

Answer: You don’t have to cry artificially. You just reach this state naturally. You reveal it and then your inner affliction is called prayer. You don’t have to say any words out-loud or make any artificial actions. With your work you will simply achieve a state that you will no longer be able to tolerate. And that means that you will burst with prayer.

You shouldn’t try to reach it artificially or simply scream. You should concentrate on your work, and then the request will come naturally, the way thirst does. You don’t think about the fact that at sometime in the future you will want to drink. But the time will come when you definitely will want it. Thus, if you study and advance together with the group, then at some point you will reach the state of spiritual thirst. You will definitely want it!

This is talking about strictly determined qualities and set laws that develop by a clear chain of cause and effect. You advance according to the root of your soul from your initial state to the final correction along a clear line that has already extended to you from the world of Infinity. Now you are going back along the same line. The only thing up for discussion is the acceleration of time and development.

In order to speed up this movement we have to participate in it ourselves, get organized into a group, and start attracting the Light with our study. If you have been given this desire, then realize it! You want to shift to the next level faster, so imagine it and start building it artificially as if you already are on that level. Attract it to you in order to ascend to it faster.

In essence we are building a certain image of the upper level, our next state, which is defined by the fact that 1) I am more connected with others, and 2) that our connection is filled by Light which unites us. To do this I have to connect with others the way I am able to today, and by studying to attract the Light that will connect us. What I study are the kinds of connections between us on a higher level, in a more corrected form.

I read about the world to come, about the corrected, wonderful state, and from there I attract Light to myself, and I also aspire to it. This is the simplest physics. There is nothing artificial or imaginary about it.

However, in it, what operates is desires, and desires are force. If I aspire to some state with my own forces, then I thereby evoke its illumination upon myself, receiving an influence to the degree that I aspire.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/15/11, Writings of Rabash

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Kabbalah does not talk about our imaginary world, but about the soul’s correction and how to attain the true reality. The true reality is the Kli in which the Creator is perceived by virtue of a certain degree of adhesion with Him.

The Kli or soul is divided into two parts: Israel, the part that aspires toward unity with the Creator, toward the goal, and the nations of the world, which is the part that’s unable to do so. We feel a certain yearning to reveal the Creator. The science of Kabbalah is by definition the method of revealing the Creator to creation. In other words, it is talking about revealing the quality of bestowal and love in creation itself.

In order for us to have the opportunity to attain this goal, the people who have the suitable desire unite in the common field of the Creator. They feel attracted to one another without knowing why and they come together like electrical charges or metal shavings in a magnetic field. That’s when they acquire the opportunity to realize the method of correction.

At first they do not know that they have to correct themselves. They simply feel a calling to the most important thing: “What am I living for? What is the meaning of my life?” Eventually they start to understand that all of these questions lead to the revelation of the Creator, the upper force that builds, supports, forms, and controls all of reality. There is nothing besides this force.

That is how a person goes from the question about the meaning of life to the question about how to reveal the Creator. After all, the revelation of the Creator gives him the answer to everything. Thus, in order to come closer to revealing the Creator, these people unite.

The Creator is concealed, and in order to reveal Him rather than anything else, meaning to reveal the quality of bestowal and love that lies outside of our nature of reception and hate, to rise above it, I am brought to a certain gathering of people.

Together with them I begin to understand that the question about the meaning of life shifts to the need to reveal the Creator as the answer to all questions that I have asked and will ask. Revealing the Creator means revealing the force of bestowal and love. It can be understood only to the degree of one’s similarity to it, only if I will also attain this quality, which is Him.

I have to acquire this quality, and in order to ensure this acquisition I am among people similar to me. This was arranged for me deliberately. The Creator is concealed because the quality of bestowal is opposite to me. Due to their fundamental difference, these qualities do not feel one another and therefore I do not feel the Creator. And it is impossible to work in relation to someone I do not feel. I will definitely be mistaken and will fall into self-deception.

Therefore, instead of giving me work with Himself, the Creator gave me work with my neighbor. This enables me to perform authentic verifications, to receive forces from the friends, and to check myself in relation to them: How much do I advance from hatred to love?
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/15/11, Writings of Rabash

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