Question: How do we awaken envy in the group towards the writers of The Zohar in order to want to be similar to them, to reach their level?

Answer: It is difficult. They are very remote and incomprehensible to us. Additionally, we totally cannot understand what it is for a man to understand all of creation and to be in a place that is full of Light where the laws that manage the entire creation are revealed to him beyond the limits of our world, and to have understanding and feeling for the inclusive nature, of the great mind, the great thought, that operates everything, and that knows the same harmony that connects all the parts of creation to each other.

It is especially from this that all our pleasure comes. In spite of our thinking that pleasure is something emotional, and the desire to receive, as it were, only understands the language of feelings and emotional enthusiasm, it is not exactly so since we receive the emotional enthusiasm from the Light of Hochma (wisdom).

This slightly confuses us and we don’t completely understand what this is. But real pleasure is from obtaining the system of the upper providence and governance, where the Creator is revealed. We don’t obtain the abstract form and the essence but the form clothed in substance, the form of bestowal clothed in our substance, the substance of reception.

Thus the Creator (Boreh) is called Come and See (Bo – Reh) since we come and then see, come and attain. But we attain the Light of Hochma, how it clothes the entire system and manages all its parts from one end to the other. We see how different and distanced the parts are from each other by their egos, by the differences in their attributes, and how connected they are through these forms, the revelation and the completeness. We can’t even imagine that it could connect or complete them. It is especially the connection between the contradictions that gives great joy and the attainment of completeness.

It is that way with everything in our lives. Let’s suppose you see a movie or a certain incident. You are especially impressed that in the beginning the people were separated, opposing each other and suffering, and suddenly reconciliation and completeness appears. This is what most inspires a person. Let’s suppose there is some injustice, and then justice wins, or other situations similar to this; on this is built all creativity.

It is derived from the same upper root:In the beginning we see and obtain the great separation that exists between all the parts of the system, and then afterward, we obtain its completeness. From the separation we obtain the completeness, as it is said, “Cover all transgressions with love,” and the attainment comes from this, the understanding and appreciation of the Creator.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/24/12, The Zohar

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot“: “Naturally, one who is imparted this open Providence is certain that he will not sin again, as one is certain that he will not cut into his own flesh and cause himself terrible suffering. In addition, one is certain that he will not neglect a Mitzva without performing it the instant it comes to his hand, as much as one is certain that he will not neglect any worldly pleasure or a great profit that comes into his hand.“

We don’t understand this. What does “open Providence” mean? If I reveal the good and the benevolent, it seems that I am free of all my worries, lying in the arms of the Creator like a baby lying in his mother’s arms. Does he try to solve anything, to understand anything?—no, he is simply wrapped with love.

Does this love weaken us? Doesn’t it make us lose our power of self-preservation?

This is the problem. Parents’ love spoils the children. If they treat them only with love, the children have no limits and eventually begin to hate the parents.

Baal HaSulam writes about parental love (in Letter 2): “Come and see a wonderful custom in this love, where apparently if the son is an only child of his father and his mother, he is obliged to love his father and mother more, because they show greater love to him than parents who have many sons.

But it isn’t so in reality, but rather the opposite, that if parents are strongly connected to their sons by their love then the value of loving the sons is minimized, until sometimes the sons feel that “any feeling of love in their heart is extinguished” which is nature’s law that is in the world.

And the simple reason is, that a father’s love to his son is natural…and the son doesn’t fear at all that this love may diminish, and he doesn’t hope that his love will grow, which is called “absolute love,” and then gradually the son grows lazy in showing his father good deeds…and it becomes his second nature, close to hatred…”

Children need two forces; they can’t hold on to one force only. Every person needs two “reins”: the force of receiving and the force of bestowal; a “shell” on the side of receiving and a “shell” on the side of bestowal. Only this provides us with some “coordinate system” and places us somewhere.

But if everyone treats me lovingly, it will confuse and irritate me. I have to decide, to settle down somewhere. My brain can’t stand this and so it may finally come to hatred.

How can I guard myself when the Creator is revealed, so that I can handle the revelation of His love? How can I create borders around me, limits, so as not to lose my independence, my “self”? How can I establish my attitude towards Him too?

After all, I mustn’t conceal myself from the Creator’s love. He wants to reveal it to me to the fullest, and I seem to object; “No, that’s enough. I already see that you are treating me well.” This would be showing contempt to Him.

So the revelation of the Creator brings about many more problems than His concealment. A person has to establish internal systems that will enable him to manage himself under much stricter limitations. This is an ascent up the spiritual levels: stricter limitations, in order to work above the egoism and to build greater Masachim (screens).

At the same time, the stronger the desire is, the stronger the love is. In our world too, we love naughty children more than quiet children. The absolute love is actually perceived in “bad” desires and vessels. It is there that it is felt as positive or negative and from there, eventually it receives a response from the Creator. Eventually when a person’s worst vessels are corrected, he can return the same absolute love for the Creator…
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/24/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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Question: A week ago I was driving on a foggy, rainy night. Visibility was only about 2 meters, ahead. I held on the yellow line and could only notice the oncoming trucks at the last second. I thought to myself that along our path there must also be a line you should stay on. But I couldn’t decide what that line is: Is it the group or the teacher?

Answer: The group, of course. The teacher only guides you, teaches you, and you should carry out his instructions exactly as he tells you.

Question: But the group seems to me like many lines, while the teacher is one.

Answer: We are connected like cogwheels: Everyone is connected to me and I am connected to everyone. I give the friends something from me and receive bestowal from them. Thus we form a collective “sphere.”

Question: But the cogwheels have an engine that turns them.

Answer: No, they turn by themselves. Eventually the upper Light turns them when it is revealed in the good mutual relations among them. This energy is hidden among them, in their mutual bestowal. So it turns out that they are like an eternal engine that operates on love.

It says that it is impossible to destroy “a city of outcasts.” Even if its inhabitants are criminals, if there is love among them, it is impossible to beat them.

Question: So what is the work of a cogwheel?

Answer: To adhere to others, to receive deficiencies from them and to fill them. This is what everyone should do. Eventually, you see before you the greatest of the generation who are completely corrected, except for the part that you have to fill in them. One doesn’t contradict the other: You can treat the group as Malchut of Ein Sof.

Question: So, I have to receive the power from the friends in order to give them powers? So are they strong or weak?

Answer: It works both ways. There is no other way: They are the greatest and they are the smallest. On one hand, I receive my strength from them and in them I reveal the Creator, and on the other hand, they lack what I have to give them, and without me they won’t feel it.

Question: And the Creator is revealed above that?

Answer: No, He is revealed inside, in the mutual connection between us. If it is a connection of bestowal, then in this aspiration we discover the upper Light. It isn’t above us; we are the ones who create and ignite it.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/23/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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Question: Is the quality of bestowal a vessel or is it fulfillment?

Answer: The quality of bestowal is both a vessel and fulfillment. It is a desire that fulfills me! If I love someone, I am filled with my love toward this person. I don’t even demand love in return; what I feel in regard to him is enough; I feel good from just that.

The feeling of love is fulfillment in itself. By love I mean bestowal. The desire to bestow to the neighbor is called love toward that person.

The extent of the love is measured by how much I am able to rise above my egoism and in spite of it to love another person. If I love him in complete congruence with my egoism, this is called egoistic love. However, if I love against my ego, this is called spiritual love or bestowal. There cannot be real love without resistance from the side of egoism.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/15/12, Writings of Rabash

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Question: What gives the Creator more pleasure: if we experience His love and return it to Him or if we pass it on?

Answer: In reality, spiritual love is felt not like the material one. Of course, to put it in the earthly language, we give the Creator pleasure by bringing other people closer to Him. However, the words are misleading.

Only after obtaining the properties of Bina will we understand what it all is about. Without the Light of Hassadim, a person cannot talk about love at all because he thinks based on his own desires, but not the desires of the other. Where could love come from?

Love is when the desire of the other opens up like my own, when I want what the other desires; moreover, I desire it even more than I would want for myself. The distance between us only multiplies my suffering, caused by the other person’s lack of satisfaction, and I want to fulfill his desire even more. The distance becomes an amplifier of my empathy.

This attitude appears by itself, automatically: This is how I think, how I perceive desires. And this is the salvation, the miracle. And until then, what love could it be? If I love, I care about the desires of the other above my own rejection and oppositeness. Egoism is revealed to me, and I work in the middle line—that is what love is.

After all, my soul is outside me.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/15/2011, “Introduction to TES”

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Nature is leading us toward a perfect state. Up until this point we have advanced by compulsion. From this point forward, we can advance only by adding our understanding of how we develop.

Now we can sweeten and speed up our development through our environment. Both adults and children develop with the help of their environment. Groups like Alocoholics Anonymous, animal rights activists, or weight loss programs are all based on the society’s influence on a person. We have to do the same.

By developing in a good society we’ll be like good children, and in addition we’ll create a similar framework for our children so that they will be good. Ultimately, humanity has but one concern: creating a good environment.

Any parent would be glad to bring a child into a warm, friendly environment, where kids are being taught to unite. This unity provides them with a sense of confidence and rids them of fear of poverty, suffering, pride, and other problems inherent in human nature. It’s nothing out of the ordinary, simply a good environment that provides a “gentle place” for development.

Such an environment allows a person to open up and to better perceive and take things in because he’s not feeling that he’s constantly on the defensive in a hostile environment. We adults don’t even understand what it means to be in a good environment. Just like a newborn baby in the arms of the mother feels nothing except her embrace. This sensation gives him the strength to develop.

We lack this sensation and that’s why we’re facing a global crisis. In all areas where we previously were successful, we now find ourselves at a dead end.

The crisis can on one hand be a catastrophe and on the other hand a rebirth. The word “crisis” comes from the Greek word “krisis”, and means a new beginning. However, we use it incorrectly. Also, the word “crisis” in Hebrew means a place where new life emerges.

We have to explain to people that they need a good environment in order to be happy. The good environment will simply make our lives happy.

Thanks to the good environment for all of us, “I feel confident, I have friends, the whole world treats me well, and I just want to be good.”  All are taking care of me, and I care about everyone. We live in a world imbued with warmth, confidence, and kindness. It’s all love.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” No. 2, 12/28/11

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Question: I was always taught that I needed to sacrifice something for the sake of unity. However, we are speaking about unity above all contradictions. What does this mean?

Answer: In reality you will not be able to concede anything to anyone. Of course you can sacrifice part of your aspirations if you have no other choice. However, concession is an imaginary notion when it comes to ideas. When I am right and he is not, it’s best for him to acknowledge the fact that I am right and join me. But when he is right and I am wrong, it’s of course best if I admit the fact that he is right and join him.

So what’s a concession? How can you relinquish the truth? It can’t be partial or intermediate. Only one of us is right. It’s impossible to reject a certain part here. If one were to relinquish a part of truth and the other one would cede a part of falsehood, this would not be the solution to the problem. This is not about things that can be shared; it’s about our opinions, ideas.

Question: But there is also something called the collective mind. By listening to different opinions in the group, it’s possible to find a better path than yours.

Answer: You have simply figured out that someone else has expressed a more sound opinion. Now you reject your opinion and join his. But this is not a concession. If after having evaluated everything I discover that he is right, I am not conceding, I am changing my opinion for his.

It’s possible to concede when I am convinced that the truth is on my side, but I chose to not follow it. This is not a good path; it never leads to peace. This leads to a question of whether it’s possible to make similar calculations on a global scale. After all, things are leading towards a war.

We say not. Each is right in their own way, but not according to my way. No one is corrected enough to view the entire collection of problems objectively, separately from the beloved self. So let us agree that there is neither absolute truth nor falsehood. Everything depends upon my current egoistic direction. After all, I hate and despise everyone from the beginning, but I love and exalt myself. Therefore it doesn’t make sense to go deep into details. The actual conditions do not allow us to unravel the truth or give in.

Let’s only concede one thing, the actual superficial squabbles, which always bring us wars and problems. Every time, I unite with someone just to kick someone else, this just goes on forever. Things cannot continue this way, and this is why we rise above all differences. Look at the system and you will see: The only way is to unite above the abyss between us.

Partial concessions don’t lead to peace and harmony even in the family. We don’t reject our opinion anyway, and for lack of any other choice, we falsely pretend. But when the egoistic desire grows bigger, it creates an even greater separation between us. And this is why our only possibility is to constantly be caring for love, which will raise us and cover all faults.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/9/12, “The Freedom”

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If we want to build a place for the revelation of the Creator, then each of us and we altogether have to awaken love between us. However, we should be careful that this does not erase all other sensations. Everyone should critically evaluate his attitude so that “love covers all transgressions.”

This inner work is called the awakening of love in the hearts of friends. It could be manifested outside in some ways, but the main work is going on within a person. And then, as it is written: “Through the love of creatures to the love of the Creator.”

From this world, we get a corrupted impression about love and misunderstand what it is. Love means that I want to help the other reach the best possible state, desire to give him all good; this is the sign of love.

Whatever this love is—love for the Creator, creatures, or friends—its greatest aspiration is to reveal the Creator, which fills all the desires and hopes. This applies to all people.

And if we are engaged in dissemination and wholeheartedly try to offer everyone, in a form suitable for them, the opportunity to discover the power of good, which rules the world, this is an expression of our love—even if we do not sense this love in our hearts, and just act and try to connect our intention to this action seeking to reveal to everyone the method of the revelation of the Creator, and we oblige ourselves to add to that warm, sincere attitude, the thought about the benefit of man. It does not matter what kind of people they are, the worst or the best, because the revelation of the Creator cures all evils.

This will mean that I aspire to love them although I feel no love towards them.

Even from our world we know how love is shown; if parents love their children, it is obvious from their attitude because they want only good for their children, and their successes make the parents happy all the time. Love is manifested in the desire to bring the loved ones to the best condition—the revelation of the Creator. And it is trying to do it with all the warmth, and the sign of the correct action is joy. [Read more →]

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People who have spiritual attainment know the laws of the universe and understand the nature of the masses. They not only have knowledge, but also experience of their own development, which also began from the lower, inanimate level. They have gone through inner corrections and have learned empathy, concessions, love. They have acquired the necessary “toolkit” to take care of the masses. They always act for the good of the people rather than for their own benefit because they live in a different, spiritual nature.

Question: What is their care for the world aimed at?

Answer: They want to “raise a lad in his own way.” In his own way, but to raise him, meaning to gradually cause him to advance by means of studying, explanations, and examples rather than by suffering. These sages carry out the main work, attracting the Light, while the masses receive the benefit from it.

Today the masses suffer: some are left without jobs, some are hungry, some have bad health, problems with their families, children, and so on. In the meantime, the sages attract the Light that reforms and teach people on a simple, accessible level, enabling the Light to flow to the masses and correct them.

As a result, people receive the Lights of Nefesh and Ruach, while the Lights of Neshama, Haya, and Yechida remain with the sages at their higher degrees, according to the reverse order of the Lights and vessels.

Thus, the masses receive fulfillment which precisely corresponds to their desires. People want good children, well-being in their families, a sure pension, health, activities, a good household, a pleasant vacation, safety, etc. They don’t have desires of a different level, and they don’t need them either.

Only later, as part of the general process, will the masses begin to join the sages, and then a mutual inclusion will occur. But again, it will be passive on the masses’ end.

Thus, the great ones descend for the sake of serving the people, but they don’t descend on the inside. Precisely their high degree allows them to pull the masses up, level by level.

Question: Doesn’t this entail a danger of unwillingly causing harm?

Answer: Can a loving mother harm her baby? After all, we don’t attach a policeman to every mother. This is a mother’s nature: to take care of the baby. And the mom doesn’t just take care of the baby, but is imbued by his desires. So can she harm him? All her thoughts are focused on what will give him pleasure, what will benefit him. What formula, temperature in the room, water bottle—a mother does not disconnect from this wave of love even for a moment.

Similarly, the upper one does not have his own desires. He receives desires from the lower one and works on them. Love obligates him to do what is good for the one he loves. I can love either him or myself. If I love the neighbor, then I ascend above self-love, and then I use everything I have to serve him, leaving only the necessities for myself.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/3/12, “The Freedom”

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Question: In western countries, advertising everywhere mostly uses women in a sexual context that is more or less obvious. Why do the modern day men regard a woman as a sexual object?

Answer: That’s because over the years, our evil inclination (egoistic desire) has reached tremendous dimensions. We haven’t corrected it and it still stays at an animal level. Sexual attraction is the most uncomplicated and natural call that is easy to implement. Practically everything revolves around it; it is very easy to create a whole “industry of love” comprised of movies, TV, music, etc.

Never in the past was such an ideal of “love” built. No matter how we perceive old times, people used to be more straightforward and simple. A man married a “suitable” woman from his neighborhood and created a family without involving such “high matters.” The massive glorification of “love” was launched about 150 years ago; before, no “cult” associated with it ever existed.

This cult-like notion of love didn’t arise by chance—after all, a man must be something to enjoy. What could they get fulfilled with? What good could they find in life? This is how an industry of “wholesale love” was created. It uses a simple, powerful and affordable pleasure, which, unlike others, requires almost no investment. Today, it is overused on the Internet and TV without any restrictions.

Moreover, we force-feed our children with side effects of the “sexual revolution.” With the help of media, society overwhelms a child with adult stereotypes that are unnatural for the younger generation. In conjunction with hormones that children intake with food, we violate a natural process of growth and literally force kids to “mutate.” This is only one side of a general crisis.

We consider ourselves to be a rational intelligent society with certain principles and considerable experience; if so, how can we allow such things to happen? In the past, parents tried hard to protect their children from bad influences; they gave them the best they could and cultivated in their kids high spiritual values. What do we do with our children now? Why do we allow contemporary mass media filled with cruelty, cynicism, and filth to interfere with our children’s lives?

Why do we tolerate vulgarity by silently consenting to it?

A child goes to school, watches TV, and browses through the Internet. The environment carves him in a way that he becomes similar to it. Why don’t we at least become concerned about it? Do we have anything more precious than children?

We cannot confine them in four walls; so the channels that pour poison into our children’s ears must be shut down. Let’s at least take care of our offspring since we have already failed the adults. Society should be held responsible for the content that is being offered to our young generation. Unnecessary things should not be imposed on them.

Returning to the topic of women—we shouldn’t compel girls to think that they were born to seduce men and thus have to look accordingly. By doing so, we enhance prostitution and create wrong standards in relationships between genders only because someone earns money from it. This way or the other everything rotates around money.

As long as we allow media to “educate” people that distorts them instead, we cannot expect anything positive from them. At the same time, the situation can be improved solely with the help of mass media, but we should take their activity under control.

Society must be called to order; among other things, it means that media has to be regulated. We are not talking about the freedom of speech, but rather about the freedom of animal appeal. Media should be organized differently and continue working for the sake of public benefit instead of letting advertisement agencies and their affiliates earn more money.

We have to start with mass education; otherwise there is nobody to talk with. People have already been “carved” and perceive the current state of affairs as the only possibility.

Hence, parents carry vague priorities; they indifferently watch their children degrade.

If a particular person—someone older or an adult —was harming my child, I would do everything in my power to stop any contacts between them. But somehow we do not act against the media. On the contrary, we knowingly allow them to enter our house and agree with what they are doing. The same applies to schools.

People simply gave up. We prefer to keep our good moods by abiding with the situation and thinking that everything is fine. Our common trouble is that we are completely (not partially) consoled.

Altering the environment will bring us relief. But first we have to clean it up a bit. So far, while we are being suppressed by our indifference time passes by….
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/28/11, “The Freedom”
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