Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”: Indeed, if you take the body of a small animal, whose only task is to nourish itself so it may exist in this world for enough time to father and carry on its species, you will find in it a complex structure of millions of fibers and tendons, as physiologists and anatomists have discovered. And there is much there that humans have yet to find. From the above, you can conclude the vast variety of issues and channels that need to connect in order to achieve and to reveal that sublime goal.

We have to include ourselves into the entire external reality. For that, we have to rise above ourselves. We ascend the ladder of the worlds of Assiya, Yetzira, Beria, Atzilut, and AK (Adam Kadmon) until we embrace all external desires and acquire the whole reality: the worlds, Partzufim, Sefirot, etc.

We transform our intention to bestowing, and fill the space of the desires with a giving attitude (yellow), and to the degree of our intention to act so, we reveal the upper force in our intention (red). It’s as if we develop a photograph with the help of intention and take it out of concealment.

Answer: The property of bestowal and absolute love that governs everything. We divulge it to the extent of our similarity with this quality, that is, proportionally to the degree of our bestowal, we disclose the same quality in the upper force which is hidden from us as of yet; thus, we unite and merge with It.

We disclose bestowal to the extent of our ability to bestow. Conversely, if we are totally unable to give, we leave the upper force and become opposite and hostile to It. Everything is subject to the law of similarity of properties.

Question: Let’s say, I become similar to the upper force in my qualities and disclose bestowal. What’s next?

Answer: Nothing. You discover the cause that was hidden from you and influenced you “behind the scenes.” This “cause” is the upper force. Your goal is to discover It, and by doing so you please It. Then, you will become similar to It. In its turn, similarity with It will allow you to merge with It.

What for? In adhesion, we will get the answer. We stay together with the Creator, we are similar to Him; our similarity with Him pleases Him and thus we boundlessly fulfill our vessels, and so on. In adhesion, words disappear; adhesion cannot be explained. Baal HaSulam writes in his article “The Giving of the Torah”: But if you linger on that word for even an instant, you will be overwhelmed by its wondrous stature. This is the goal that brings and focuses everything together.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/15/12, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Question: What is the difference between exile and the state of Lo Lishma?

Answer: A person feels that he is in exile after having been on a high level, and so he can understand that now he has descended into exile. Exile is a descent, after a person has understood something, felt something, has been in contact with the Creator, now he feels that he is detached from all this at least to some extent.

The levels of the forefathers: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, about whom the Torah tells us, are the levels of understanding, attainment, the feeling of bestowal, the attributes of the Creator, His revelation. While the descent into the exile in Egypt is already the hardening of the heart, which is felt after a person has attained a state called the “forefathers” (the most initial state).

While Lo Lishma is the initial level of a person who studies and tries to rise above all the states he feels, he is still in his egoistic intentions. He dreams about attaining bestowal and feels the value of this attribute and wants to detach from himself. But he wants this detachment for himself too, feeling how good it will be. This feeling of yearning for bestowal but still acting for his own good is called Lo Lishma.

But it is on condition that he values bestowal not because it helps him detach from the corporeal troubles or in the hope of receiving some spiritual reward or achievement. He wants to be in bestowal because this is how the Light operates on him. A person doesn’t even know what it means to be in bestowal. But new attributes are born in him and such vessels and inclinations are stabilized, which force him to value bestowal. He doesn’t even know where it comes from, but it is the result of the influence of the Light that Reforms.

Then this inclination becomes more and more conscious and a person begins to hold on to it by himself. Eventually he reaches a state in which he only wants bestowal, by cutting himself off from all personal interests.

In order to do that, a person must go through the hardening of the heart many times and encounter many obstacles. He is shown that there are things in life that are dear to him and from which he cannot detach himself, to what extent he still worries about them and cannot ascend above his egoistic love for some people or passions for different phenomena. At the same time, he sees to what extent he cannot ascend above his hatred towards someone or something.

The Light helps him clarify this, and eventually by much work and praying, a person tries to ascend above all that and nearly reaches bestowal. Then the upper Light completes this level for him, as it says: “I have labored and I found.”

The main thing is to hasten his advancement by intensively working in the group. Everything depends on the environment.
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From the 1^st part the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/27/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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Baal HaSulam, “Exile and Redemption”: Hence, I hereby propose to the House of Israel to say to our troubles, “Enough!” and at the very least, make a human calculation regarding these adventures that they have inflicted us time and time again, and here in our country, as well. We wish to start our own policy, as we have no hope of clutching at the ground as a nation as long as we do not accept our holy Torah without any extenuations, to the last condition of the work Lishma, and not for oneself, with any residue of selfishness…

As long as we do not raise our goal above the corporeal life, we will have no corporeal revival because the spiritual and the corporeal in us cannot dwell in one basket, for we are the children of the idea. And even if we are immersed in forty-nine gates of materialism, we will still not give up the idea. Hence, it is the holy purpose of for His name that we need.”

Of course, the Israeli nation can exist only if it is in mutual guarantee. This is the basis and the foundation of our nation by which we will be able to determine the right form of our state since otherwise we will not be able to exist. This cannot be if we don’t have the intention to bestow Lishma (for her name).

Only then will we be able to be prosperous and secure in our state; it all depends on the inner intention, which determines all the other aspects of life. So, Baal HaSulam says that we should not think about a corporeal revival, and, what is more, try to be like all the other nations since we exist on a totally different basis and not according to the principles of the other nations.

The nations of the world live according to the laws of the desire to receive, and so, they know how to arrange their corporeal life in this world. They feel themselves and understand one another. The Israeli nation, however, doesn’t. We must have only a spiritual revival, and if we keep and fulfill our spiritual mission, our corporeal life will work out. We will not need to worry about it since if we attain the spiritual level, there will be such a balance of forces between the corporeal world and the spiritual world that it will determine the level and the form of our corporeal existence.

So, the only thing we need is spirituality: A solution that is as internal as possible. Everything else will work out automatically as the projection of the internality on the externality.

The same thing happens with regard to our entire global Kabbalistic group called “Israel,” which stands for the yearning to the Creator, Yashar El (straight to the Creator). If we want this group to grow and serve as a source of this knowledge by existing as a spiritual superpower, then we first must take care of our inner quality, and in addition, invest our power in dissemination as well.

However, the main thing that determines our success is the connection among us. We must go out into the world and be impressed by it so as not to lose our connection with it, to disseminate the method of Kabbalah and mutual guarantee in it. However, first, it must stem from our concern for unity and connection, for mutual guarantee among us, in order to focus this on bestowal Lishma, which means in order to bring contentment to the upper force.

As for Israel, we must yearn straight to the Creator since it is the internality that determines everything. So, here too, in the land of Israel, we first must worry about attaining the inner force. Once we have it, no one will be able to harm us.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/26/12

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Question: Will the desire to know the Creator arise in all the people who live on Earth?

Answer: By itself, it will not arise.

People in whom this desire arises are called Israel (Yashar El), which in translation means to move forward, to aspire to this goal independently.

And there are people who do not have this independent movement, but the crisis that will continue to unfold will force them to run away from it. However, then they will inevitably join those who strive forward.

That is, they will have a desire to escape adverse conditions, the pressure from behind, rather than a yearning for the goal. In this way, the ninety percent of humans will move toward correction, the goal of creation.
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From a Virtual Lesson 11/18/12

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Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”: As there is no perception of the Creator whatsoever, so it is impossible to attain the essence of any of His creatures, even the tangible objects that we feel with our hands.

We perceive the Creator according to the principle: “Come and see.” I don’t know what the essence of the Creator is, but I can “come and see.” In order to do that, I perform certain actions and by them I know the Creator, as it says, “From Your actions we shall know You.” All of reality, all His actions and the ways He is revealed, are a result of our self-correction and by that we perceive Him in our feelings. I perceive everything in my vessels because it is there that I discover different phenomena, including the Creator.

The “Creator” is the uppermost level that I can attain. It is bestowal and love that controls all of reality. I discover the law of to do good unto His created beings, the Good that does Good; I discover the phenomenon that resides in all the vessels, in all my parts, in all my soul and my desires; I see and perceive that He is the first, the original. It turns out that even before I began to understand, to perceive and to feel, there was something determining my thoughts, desires, and actions.

But how could it be that first I perceive this and then I acknowledge and admit that He existed first. Can it be? Yes. Within the action itself I perceive and discover that He was first. So everything only stems from the actions. In spirituality I can’t recognize and identify something that doesn’t move and doesn’t act.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/19/12, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Rav Kook, “The Lights,” “The War,” Item 9: The building of the world that is collapsing now before the terrible storms of the blood filled sword requires the building of the Israeli nation. The building of the nation and the revelation of its spirit is one thing, and it is connected to the building of the world that is falling apart and that is expecting a force that is united and supreme, and it is all in the soul of Knesset Israel. The spirit of the Creator is filled with it and it is impossible for man’s spirit, whose feeling of the soul is throbbing in him, to be calm in this great hour, without calling all the great forces of the nation: Wake up and rise to fulfill your role.

Things will not be corrected and will not improve unless the people of Israel understand their special role regarding themselves, regarding the whole world, and regarding the Creator and their obligation to everyone. This is the law of nature, which does not depend on our consent and doesn’t require our consent.

We will have to keep this law no matter what, either by the path of the Light or by the path of suffering. Humanity has to reach an equivalence of form with the Creator, and we are the part that is obligated to start the correction for everyone and to lead them by setting an example for the other nations. We have to acknowledge our mission and to accept it, either willingly by agreeing, understanding, and taking on the responsibility or by pressure of the general hatred that will be revealed towards us, the troubles, the problems, and the sufferings of the development press that is pressuring us.

We will have to acknowledge that the whole method of correction that leads us from the love of others to the love of the Creator is called the wisdom of Kabbalah. This wisdom tells about the connection among us, about the network of connections among us in which all of reality is included, the whole system of the worlds. By building and discovering the connection among us we discover the upper spiritual reality that is above the egoistic corporeal reality in which we are living today.

We will have to understand that the wisdom of Kabbalah is not about red strings, as the nonreligious believe, and not about creating statues that were already shattered in the days of Abraham, not mysticism, which religious people imagine, not blessings, and not prayers so that everything will change for my own good, except for me. So no one is thinking about self-correction, but rather they are asking for egoistic changes: not that I should change, but that everything around will change for my own good.

However, the wisdom of Kabbalah is God’s work by which, with help of the upper Light, with the help of the attribute of bestowal, we will want to change ourselves in faith above reason, in order to resemble the upper force and to reach an equivalence of form with it, to reach adhesion. This means to become Adam (human), which means “similar” to the Creator (Domeh), which has the same root in Hebrew.

This is what we should aim all the forces of the nation at, as Rav Kook says here: Only in the revelation of these forces will we reach the creation of the spirit of the nation and the assembly of all the souls of Israel, “Knesset Israel.” Then we will become a “nation of priests and a holy nation” for the whole world; we will become an example and guides for everyone.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/21/12

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Because the created being is opposite in its nature from the Creator but has to reach equivalence of form with Him, we as created beings have these two opposite forms inside us. Our inner form, our desire to receive, is opposite from the Creator and the external form of the desire has to be similar to that of the Creator. This collision, this conflict, breaks us; we cannot get along with it unless we begin our true spiritual work.

Here we develop as every spiritual vessel. First there is only a desire to receive, and then it is restricted. After the restriction a Masach (screen) and the Returning Light appear, and then there is the receiving of the Light and the fulfillment. This fulfillment is not in the vessel itself in the desire to receive, but it is received in the form of bestowal, which the created being has corrected by himself in resembling the Creator.

These two opposite parts are constantly in the created being who has achieved an equivalence of form with the Creator. On the one hand, it is opposite the Creator according to its natural desire, but on the other hand, the form of the corrected desire is in equivalence of form with the Creator.

So sorrow and joy, emptiness and wholeness coexist, and it’s this oppositeness that makes our work whole, since by that we can detach from our “self,” which means from the desire to receive, to rise above it and to speak from the desire to bestowal, from the height we have attained and built above us. This is why there is a Mitzvah (commandment) to work for the Creator with joy, since this is the general formula. We will always feel the oppositeness and the emptiness in our desires to receive, and we should be happy that we have a chance to work above this feeling.

Even if I have no energy to pray and have nothing to pray for or don’t know what to ask for, it’s also a sign that I am on the right track, since I feel a bitter taste in my desire to receive. Here the two opposites meet: On the one hand, I have no energy to pray, I cannot turn to the Creator, there is nothing I can ask from Him and I have nothing to give Him, but on the other hand, I am very attracted to it and I know that I have to attain it.

This area already with two forces, two lines, two opposite directions, indicate that my desire is in a correct process of correction. This alone is a good enough reason to be happy! The main thing is the awareness that I have managed to rise a bit above my desire to receive, towards bestowal.
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From the Preparation the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/20/12

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Question: What is the definition of the “Creator?”

Answer: The “Creator” is the force of bestowal in a person. If a person feels that he belongs to connection and bestowal, then the Creator is already alive in him. A person feels something new that is not his own, something upper, and wants the upper to be in him, since by that he acquires something better, even on a corporeal level.

Question: Does it turn out that the general reach the revelation of the Creator unconsciously?

Answer: That’s right, since it is AHP and not GE, only “from Your actions shall we know You.”

The general that operate in connection feel a better life in their actions. Imagine that suddenly everything works out, you and your family have everything, your children are taken care of, you are healthy and secure… where does this happiness come from? It stems from the connection among us that gives us a general collective feeling that we are like brothers. A kind of unity, love, and an agreement that the Creator is dressed in the created beings, connects us.

In addition to that we feel a kind of eternal flow in this. There is a special illumination in the unity, which tells a person: “You are alive and you will continue to live.”

I receive this addition by connecting to others and living in them. My life is divided between everyone; I am totally in them and by that I feel an eternal life, an eternal existence. The illusion of life and death disappears, since it was felt only in my separated and limited ego. Now, however, when my ego is spread among everyone, when I depend on everyone and everyone depends on me, I don’t feel that I am dead anymore; I live among everyone.

This is all the psychology, the internal feeling. All this comes to the ordinary person, when he makes steps towards connection. He feels an addition of spirituality in every aspect of life. It is “spirituality” because he comes out of himself towards others and is under the force of bestowal. Even if he acts according to the blows, not understanding exactly the actual reason for what is happening, even if everything has been taken care of for him, it is normal. We too operate this way with regards to the advice of Kabbalists.

Although the emphasis of the general is on the action and not from an inner clarification, they too discover the Creator and experience the spiritual feeling. Every one who takes part in bestowal is already called “human,” even if he is operating on a totally mechanical level. It makes no difference since he is also part of the general whole.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/14/12, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah“

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Question: Nature is built and balanced on the principle of “plus-minus.” The Creator is a completely positive property. After the whole of humanity reaches unity, after the adhesion with the Creator, it will also be able to advance with a positive property. How serious will this change be? Due to what will the change of properties happen? Will the balance with nature be restored?

Answer: We don’t do anything ourselves; we produce nothing but one thing: the desire that the Light does everything for us. That is why, there is no opportunity to spoil anything, somewhere to go wrong, to bring harm.

Either we accelerate the process of our development and make it gentler, or it proceeds on its own, and it is evil, bad—one of the two.

The more we affect the Light, the better we will be, and the faster we can achieve a good state. The less we affect the Light, the slower we will advance, and the more troubles we will have.

It all depends on our efforts to draw the Light. And It performs all the actions. That is why, it is impossible to make a mistake here.
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From a meal at the Georgia Convention 11/05/12

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The world won’t recognize the importance of the wisdom of Kabbalah until it has reached the need for correction. But this need is yet to be revealed, and this is what is happening today. We have reached a dead end; we are up against a wall, helpless, not knowing what to do.

Until now we have always managed to overcome problems as we improved our life, but today it’s the opposite. We are sinking into a crisis that doesn’t end but increases.

This indicates that people are already starting to discover the need for a real change.

Here we are faced with the question about the meaning of life, which we didn’t ask before. All the previous generations aspired for more: to understand more, to feel more, to fly to the moon, to dive into the ocean, to build. Eventually everything we build is destroyed, and things are getting so bad that sometimes it seems as if it’s better to die. “What do we need this life for?” Today it’s a general question and it will become increasingly sharper.

Here comes the need for correction, and it can be fulfilled only by the Light that created it.

The method that allows us to summon the Light that corrects the desire is called the wisdom of Kabbalah. It connects the Light that created the desire and which can correct and fill it with the desire itself. So because there’s no other choice, humanity will eventually have to discover this method and to use it according to its destiny.

In the meantime, in the period of transition, the world doesn’t know about it yet. We don’t know much, but we are at least trying to hear. We have to understand the essence of the wisdom of Kabbalah as fast as we can and present it as well and much as we can to everyone. Then the world will reach correction.

By definition, the wisdom of Kabbalah is the revelation of the Creator to the created being, or a change of one’s desire thanks to which he will receive the Creator’s form and discover Him. The point is the aspect that we explain it from: either the aspect of the Lights or from the aspect of the vessels. We either speak about the revelation of the Light to the vessel or about a vessel to which the Light will be revealed only to the extent that they are equal in form. On the whole, it isn’t the Light that is revealed in the vessel, but the vessel that receives a form similar to the Light, called the “Creator.” Thus the Creator is revealed to the created being, and this is the goal.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/14/12, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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