On the spiritual path, souls desiring to unite must perpetually work on building a connection between them. In that case they constantly influence Malchut of the World of Atzilut (the bride) and it awakens a connection in Zeir Anpin on the level of faith rather than reception of pleasure.

Then the covenant exists because we sign a pact that we hold on to each other only because of the spiritual goal’s importance regardless of who’s paying and how much. For example, if your girlfriend is beautiful, then when you receive pleasure from her, it’s as if you sold yourself to her. If you live with a woman because she’s beautiful, then you’re a “sell out” because you receive pleasure from her beauty, which is like her payment to you.

That’s why we sign a covenant saying that we advance by faith above reason or that bestowal is more important than reception for us. That’s why we constantly look for ways to strengthen our connection through mutual bestowal.

To the degree I join the connection through mutual bestowal, I start to notice how much uglier my “bride” is (meaning the group and the spiritual world), and that my partner (the Creator) is a liar. So who did I sign a covenant with, to whom did I obligate myself!? Yet, that’s when you have the opportunity to go by faith above reason, to prefer bestowal above the calculation of reception.

From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/17/10, Shamati #52

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Question: What is the difference between the Light that we try to attract from The Zohar and the Light which nullifies us and turns us into the animate level?

Answer: There is only one Light, but the way it is expressed depends on us. It’s like electricity, which either cools or heats something depending on what you connect to it.

How the Light becomes expressed depends on a person’s preparation, but the Light itself does not change; neither its intensity changes, nor its nature. It is written that the Creator remains at rest, He is “Good, who does good,” the World of Infinity.

The system of the souls’ connection, which was created by the Creator in the World of Infinity becomes revealed to me gradually, step by step. The nature of its revelation depends on my preparation, my attitude toward this process, whether I desire it or not.

When I see the process as desirable since it brings me closer to the Creator and this is the most important thing to me, then I feel that “I am my beloved’s and He is mine.” This means that I am always in a state of ascent; I am righteous because I justify all of the Creator’s actions. I am in the World of Infinity, at peace.

However, if I desire to be closer to Him only when it benefits me, then my love depends on what I receive. This means that I go from ascents to descents depending on the way I feel, and for this reason I am a sinner. I depend on the conditions, not on love. Everything changes, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. Thus, what changes is not the Light, but myself: my attitude towards my Beloved.

We can see this through a famous example: a young lady (the soul, Shechina, Malchut) strives to be with her destitute beloved (Zeir Anpin, the Creator) for the sake of love above any calculations, while her family (egoistic relatives, Klipot) are against this union, and they offer her another suitor, one who is wealthy and cares only about fulfillment where everything is calculated.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/15/10, The Zohar

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Question: If everything in the world depends on the people who engage in spiritual development, does this mean that we are responsible for all the suffering that occurs in the world?

Answer: No, we do not cause the suffering in the world. On the contrary, we draw Light and transfer the suffering from a corporeal level to a level of spiritual suffering. As a result, instead of suffering due to wars, illnesses, and all other problems, we suffer from the fact that we lack spirituality. This is what the science of Kabbalah gives to a person. A person “suffers,” but it is not true suffering since it is the suffering of love.

If I were invited for a meal in a few hours, then I would avoid eating now in order to save my appetite for the meal. Similarly, the understanding that I need to prepare my spiritual Kelim is called the suffering of love. However, even when our Kelim are empty, we are able to feel a slight illumination in anticipation of our next meeting with the people we love. This is what we need to bring to humanity: We need to show them that there is a solution to the blows developing in nature.

Right now we are entering a period of ecological problems which can cause suffering and death for thousands of people. We are witnesses of natural disasters that break out all over the world, including China, Europe, Russia, and America. The only way to save ourselves from these disasters is to prepare our spiritual Kelim. We don’t need to prepare our Kelim in a corporeal sense, waiting for decades of suffering before finally realizing that there is a reason and purpose to the suffering, and that we have a choice. There are two paths leading to the same goal, the path of Light and the path of suffering.

Why should we suffer in vain? If we draw the Light, then it reveals how opposite we are to it and we suffer due to seeing a better state compared to the one we are in now. This is what the science of Kabbalah offers to a person: the path of Light instead of the path of suffering.

From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/1/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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Question: Is our suffering in this world not enough that we have to feel more pain striving for the Upper World? It looks like a person doubles his suffering when he embarks on a spiritual journey, doesn’t he?

Answer: That is correct. Your suffering becomes greater so that you cover this spiritual distance faster! What else could possibly give you a start? However, we do not receive suffering from Above, but are expected to find this lovesickness on our own. The Light that Reforms evokes our heartfelt longing for it, and we start moving ahead motivated by the latter. This is not the same as the suffering of this world, where we are like animals who are being beaten and don’t understand why, and simply keep running from the blows.

It is up to us to start acting. But we think, “Oh well, let’s wait until the help from Above arrives and takes care of everything.” What kind of help do you think is going to come? Only the suffering in this world will force us to advance!

Alternatively, if you connect to the group, you will receive spiritual suffering and will start advancing sooner. It will be a sensation of a spiritual void, the longing of the heart, lovesickness. Then you won’t need to be driven by the corporeal pain. If you make an effort to advance at the speed that is assigned to you, according to your original spiritual genes (Reshimot), it won’t be necessary to drive you “toward happiness with a rod.”

It is true that when you ascend so high that you can connect with all the other souls, you start feeling pain for them like a mother suffers when seeing the pain of her children. This is why we think that Kabbalists also suffer in this world.

From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/1/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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Question: The Zohar causes so much darkness and evil to be revealed. How can a person ask for love while seeing all the evil? How can I ask for good in spite of the evil?

Answer: We think that there is a great distance between hate and love, but this is not the case. First of all, they are the same thing because everything occurs in the same desire. When you go from one to the other, you do not move through space. Rather, the Light performs a change inside you causing you to move from one extreme to the other in one instant

When you look at things without the Light, you do not see anything and all is presented to you as darkness, negative feelings, and hate. However, as soon as there is Light, you reveal goodness, love, and sweetness. There are no prolonged actions here. You “turn on” the Light, and it immediately changes everything. The whole picture of reality instantly changes.

Right now we are in darkness, and that is why we cannot believe that the Light can emerge in one instant. However, when it emerges, it always happens very suddenly, like during the exodus from Egypt.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/19/10, The Zohar

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Question: How does our desire to unite together more become expressed: in thought or in sensation?

Answer: The desire for greater unity is expressed by my desire to be in the common sensation where there is no distinction between “me” and “others,” and instead there is something that’s shared. However, I don’t know what it is. I don’t want to feel my “self”; I want to feel “us” where there is no division into “self” and “other.” This is a new reality that we produce.

On that higher level which we produce through our efforts, the desire is not divided (compared to our current level). It’s as if many drops of water come together into one great drop. Then there is no way to tell apart our previous state where each of us was separate.

It is impossible to express this accurately with our language, but it’s as if I lose myself. My “I” disappears. On the next level it turns into “we.” However, in relation to a higher level yet, our division gradually becomes revealed again.

After we attain the higher level where we merge together into one drop, new desires or new layers of egoism start being revealed in us. Where do they become revealed from? From the AHP of the Upper Level, which illuminates them. Then I begin to reveal that I am actually not connected with others, that I am alone and they are as well. This happens in our regular lives when you want to unite with someone with your entire heart and soul, but a moment later you already start to experience different calculations that divide you.

The same thing happens in spirituality, but there it happens because the Upper One starts to illuminate your flaws in this state. You thought that you had attained unity, but now you are being shown that it’s not true. You are once again divided from others by egoistic calculations and hatred, even though you thought that only love reigns among you.

The same thing happens in our world: We think that we always replace love with hatred and hatred with love, but that’s not true. The fact is that these are different levels. A greater ego is constantly revealed to us and therefore on every level evil always turns to good, and then good turns into evil, and that is how we advance.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/10, The Zohar

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about passages from the great Kabbalists. I promise to answer them. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy

Philosophy loves to pride itself on understanding all the negatives [does not state who He is, but rather who is not Him] about His essence. However, the sages of Kabbalah put their hand to their mouth at this point [when the Creator Himself rather than His manifestation with relation to us is being discussed], and do not give Him even a simple name, for we do not define by name or word that which we do not attain. That is because a word designates some degree of attainment [based on the perception of the attained object in our senses].

However, Kabbalists do speak a great deal [to the extent of the researcher being similar to the properties of the Light] about His illumination [His manifestation with relation to us] in reality, meaning all those illuminations they [researchers themselves] have actually [practically, in sensations] attained [within themselves], as validly as [our] tangible [world, meaning the reality which we sense from the beginning through our inherent qualities] attainment [of objects and properties].
– Baal HaSulam “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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When we choose the quality of bestowal, “the ugly beauty” (as it appears to our egoism, a state called Tshuva Mi Iria), then after living with her for a while we start to experience the state of love (the 15^th of Av), reception for the sake of bestowal (Tshuva Mi Ahava). We have just completed the Mega Congress where by virtue of our efforts we revealed the “bride,” who is beautiful for attaining the Creator yet ugly to our egoism.

However, just as it often happens in life, now that the “wedding” is over we are revealing problems since egoism is always growing and changing. It is becoming apparent that you married an ugly and quarrelsome woman who is not satisfied with anything you give her. However, in reality she is demanding bestowal; but since you are being influenced by egoism, you are losing inspiration and desire to fulfill your egoism.

You will have to work by “faith above reason” (in bestowal against egoism) in order to understand that in reality it is precisely the selfless desire to bestow that is beautiful, wealthy, and dignified. It possesses all the good qualities, only you don’t see that!

Let’s hope that we will go through this new phase of egoism’s growth and attain correction. Then, instead of seeing the “poor and ugly” Malchut, we will see all of her beauty, which will be revealed in the quality of bestowal. This state is called “the day of love” (the 15^th of Av).
[18076]

From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/26/10, “15^th of Av”

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A question I received: How can we maintain within ourselves the need to bestow?

My Answer: The need to bestow that stems from love never dies out. You’ll never be able to say “Enough!” On the contrary, the more you give, the greater your need to bestow will be. Otherwise it’s not love. If love is limited to a certain level beyond which you won’t go, if you feel that your love has boundaries, then it is not love.

Your wife can explain it very well to you. Women can feel these things naturally. A man tends to limit his love because his spiritual root is the force of the anti-egoistic screen that dictates to him: “Here is the limit and I am not ready to go any further.” In contrast, a woman who wants to experience a man’s love can’t understand how love can have boundaries. This is instilled in our nature.

Pleasure can never extinguish the desire to love; it only awakens an even bigger desire. When you give to your children, you don’t tell them: “Enough, I won’t give to you anymore.” Perhaps you can’t give more because of external circumstances, but you cannot voluntarily restrict giving to your own children.

Love revokes all boundaries. We don’t understand what true love is. We think that it is about filling up our own stomach, but love is fulfillment of somebody else’s desire. It’s an aspiration to satisfy another person. I sense that this is about another person (not me); I feel the distance between us. Yet, I want to fulfill this person.

We are talking here about a spiritual Kli and the science of Kabbalah rather than about hugs and kisses. All of nature acts in accordance with this principle of lack and its fulfillment; love rules over everything. Everything in nature unites, draws closer, or, on the contrary, moves further away from each other according to this principle. This single force acts in nature since the Creator is the power of love. That’s why there is nothing else besides love and hatred (that is, love with a negative sign.)

“Love your neighbor” is not just a beautiful slogan, but rather a law of nature. To fulfill another person’s desire means to sense ourselves beyond time, motion, or space, beyond all limitations of this world. It is to enter spirituality. By doing so, we attain eternal life. If not, we live like animals and are restricted by our material body in this world.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/3/10, Article “Matan Torah”

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The Creator is a pure desire to bestow. He receives pleasure from bestowal. He creates the creature, the desire to receive, so as to bestow to it. Does the Creator feel pleasure from bestowal? He does! Does He bestow in order to feel pleasure? No! He receives pleasure from the very fact that He wants to bestow. We say that He suffers because of our reluctance to receive His pleasure, but it’s purely our limited perception whereby we perceive His “suffering” relative to ourselves.

We, on the other hand, are the desire to receive, and our joy lies solely in reception. This desire cannot be erased within us; it only needs to be corrected. The corrected desire will take pleasure in being fulfilled, but its fulfillment will come in fulfilling another.

How is it possible? Will I be fulfilling myself? Yes, but only on account of fulfilling somebody else, and in so doing I will feel as though I’m fulfilling myself. I’ll be like a mother that fulfills her child and takes pleasure in that very act. But a mother loves her child, and so it follows that I too need to acquire this love. If I manage to love the desire of another, then everything it receives will be my fulfillment as well. Love will unite our desire into one. Moreover, love will make the desire of another more important to me than my own, inherent desire.

Therefore, all that I need is the power of love. And this power can only be received from the Creator, for He is the one Who loves. Love is His inherent quality. Ask Him and He will share it with you. You will be able to love as well, as love will rise over all of your hatred.

Herein lies the giving of the Torah (Kabbalah): a power comes from Above, unites your desire with those of others, and you begin to love them like yourself. “Like yourself” means even more than yourself. Your love is so great that it obligates you to care for others before even caring for yourself. You become like a mother who’s prepared to give her child everything in the world.

On the animate level such behavior is compelled by nature (the Creator). But on the human level, we must reach this state on our own.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/3/10, Article “Matan Torah”

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