Comment: We talked about the idea of striving to work for the sake of bestowal, and to focus on this only in relation to the group.

My Response: I am not saying that you should strive to work for the sake of bestowal outside the group. No, you should do this within the framework of the group. However, the structure of your soul encompasses a much broader spectrum. You must not forget that the mission entrusted to you is not merely to “bestow to the group,” but to lead to universal correction.

It is not a matter of working for the sake of bestowal for all humanity, you have nothing to give them! Nevertheless, you must realize that you bear responsibility for what is happening to humanity and to your people.

You are looking for something to ask for, something to think about. Read the end of the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” and you will see that all troubles stem from you, and then you will have something to ask for. I hear that you do not know what request to turn to the Creator with! If things are so good for you, look at what is happening outside.

By yourself, you may be righteous and be in a state of Hafetz Hesed (desiring nothing for yourself), but know that you bear guilt for any misfortune that happens in the world! It is your fault because you received the key to solving problems, and other people do not know anything about it, they did not receive anything like that.

Therefore instead of thinking that you are righteous, and that you are entitled to a reward, you can come to a truer realization: that you are wicked, and that you deserve the same suffering that all humanity experiences. For in the end, since you have received this knowledge, the responsibility rests upon you. As Baal HaSulam writes that we cannot save ourselves from judgment.”
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/7/26, Rabash, “What Are the Times of Prayer and Gratitude in the Work? ”

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In the spiritual sense, Jerusalem is the point of connection between the souls and the upper system. If we speak of the city itself, it is completely unique and has a special status for Israel, because it is the place where the Temple Mount is located and where the Temple stood; it is the symbol of the connection of this world with the upper world.

Jerusalem is a symbol of unity. And it is known that it is precisely unity that makes the people of Israel special and chosen. Without it, our people would not have attained the degree of Bina, of bestowal, which is symbolized by the number 40 (the forty years of wandering in the desert), and the land of Israel, which means straight to the Creator (Israel, Yashar‑El).

All this became possible thanks to the work they carried out, through their ascents and descents and through overcoming all kinds of obstacles along the way.

When we work against egoism to foster our connection, we attain a desire directed to the Creator; this is a state collectively referred to as the “land of Israel.” Subsequently we arrive at a special, perfect city (Ira Shlema), called Jerusalem (Yerushalaim).

Within this city lies a mountain (Har), that is, a special set of doubts (Hirhurim) through which we acquire the vessel of receiving for the sake of bestowal (the First Temple), followed by the vessel of bestowal for the sake of bestowal (the Second Temple).

All these spiritual states are attained only by unity. We are not speaking about stones or a geographical location, but rather of the Jerusalem within the heart, that is, the process of constructing a relationship defined as perfect awe or the perfect city (Ira Shlema). It is the place of connection between us and the upper force, the Creator.

Everything is expressed through unity. Where there is unity, there is the land of Israel, Jerusalem, the Temple Mount; but where there is no unity, none of these things exists either. Therefore do we truly reside in the land of Israel and in Jerusalem today?

Strictly speaking, no. For now, these are only potential concepts intended to direct us toward attaining their essence, that is, correct connection. Only then will we find ourselves in the land of Israel, in Jerusalem, and upon the Temple Mount.

Baal HaSulam explains that we were granted the land of Israel for a time as an opportunity to realize our unity and attain redemption, that is, the revelation of the upper force. Redemption is freedom from one’s egoism—for each one individually and for all of us together.

Therefore, our primary task lies in working toward unity against egoism. In doing so, we will reveal Jerusalem in our heart along with all the other, deeper, inner qualities that will manifest within it.

“Jerusalem, built like a city which combines in fellowship, the city which confers fellowship on all of Israel” (Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi ,Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Chagiga).

This means that if we attain the spiritual state called Jerusalem, we become a single people of Israel, as if one man. In this lies the symbol and the essence of Jerusalem. Nowhere else, in no other nation, is there such an approach. Because in the people of Israel, everything is always revealed only through unity—without which there is no people of Israel, no land of Israel, and no Jerusalem.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/24/17, “Jerusalem Day”

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Do the nations of the world (AHP) agree to correction? Yes, but this consent emerges under the influence of the upper light on them. The AHP itself cannot draw down the light. Therefore, it is said that Israel serves as the light unto the nations of the world.

If Israel (Galgalta veEinaim) draws down the light and examines itself, then accordingly those parts that cannot be corrected in this form feel how they can really be corrected.

There are parts that attract light and there are parts that will be corrected when these lights come together. The GE, Israel, attract the lights, and when these lights assemble, they will correct the AHP.

Is there a place for mutual work here? I think so. What does mutual work mean? Perhaps it is the work of overcoming the resistance of the desire to receive to the process that is taking place inside us.

We see it from the outside, in the material world. The peoples of the world are opposed to the existence of Israel; they do not desire it. They perceive the GE as a superfluous element that dominates them, and does nothing to benefit them. This necessitates analysis.

Since the most crude Kelim require correction, vessels of reception, they feel the need for correction more than Israel does. Of course, the pressure comes from them.

What is the fundamental problem of our world? It lies in understanding and internalizing what is really taking place, in perceiving reality correctly and participating in the process in the proper manner, specifically by compelling the people of Israel to do what they are charged with. In essence, the nations of the world are already engaged in doing this.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/23/26, Rabash, “All of Israel Have a Part in the Next World”

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Question: What is the meaning of the holiday Lag Ba’Omer?

Answer: Lag Ba’Omer is a special holiday; it is a festival of light, the day when Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the author of The Book of Zohar (a work unparalleled in all generations of humanity), passed away from this world.

Within this single book, all the laws of the spiritual world are described, together with the entire network of connections that governs us from above, and determines the whole process we undergo in this world.

The spiritual world is the upper system that activates our world, which is completely governed from above. Our entire world emerged from a single point of the Big Bang, expanded, and developed over 14 billion years.

In the course of this evolution, the Earth was formed with its solid crust surrounding a raging fire. The cooling of this crust allowed life to exist on the surface, together with all surrounding nature.

But the question is not how the still, vegetative, and animate levels developed, but how we develop and where we are heading. This is what The Zohar speaks about. It truly speaks about everything, including the formation of the upper worlds that influence and govern us.

This can also be seen in The Zohar and in the writings of Isaac Luria, the great Kabbalist from Safed in the 16^th century. Therefore, the wisdom of Kabbalah has much to say about the counting of the Omer (Sefirat HaOmer). But in essence it speaks about the correction of a person who must transform himself to become a spiritual being.

Question: What must he correct?

Answer: It is written: “I have created the evil inclination, and given the Torah for its correction, for its light returns to the source.” We are initially created from the evil inclination, an egoistic desire to receive, and therefore we consider only ourselves, not others. In this form, the world exists, and we see where it is heading.

The purpose of creation is, that through the process of our development, we eventually come to the realization that our ego, our egoistic desire to enjoy, is actually causing us harm; that we have reached a dead end in development and are no longer capable of moving forward; that we are destroying our lives, our families, and the lives of our children, with no hope for a good future.

Comment: This resembles the current situation in Israel.

My Response: Indeed. But all of this is intended to bring us to a state of repentance regarding our egoistic development, to make us realize that our ego is an evil inclination that is leading us to destruction.

At that point we come to feel a need correction: “How can we correct our nature? How can we treat others with friendship? How can we live in love, unity, and bestowal?” This is the only way can we exist in an integral world, a world where we are all interconnected and mutually dependent. How can we be connected if we are mired in mutual hatred?

In such a state, the wisdom of Kabbalah is revealed; it explains what the Torah truly is. For this very reason Kabbalah is referred to as the true Torah. It is through this science that we learn how to correct ourselves. To correct oneself means to relate to others according to the main rule of the Torah: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This is well known, yet rarely observed.

To love your neighbor means that I must just as I love myself. This seems unrealistic, and indeed it is beyond human ability. Yet it is written: “I have created the evil inclination, and I have given the Torah for its correction.”

This means there a force called “Torah” exists; it is not merely a book as commonly understood, but a method of correction through the light, as it is written: “its light returns to the source.”

“Torah” (from the Hebrew “Hora’a” – instruction) is also referred to the science of light or the wisdom of Kabbalah. When a person uses it correctly to correct themself, they awaken a force hidden in nature, which begins to operate within them, and they feel how they change.

This is a positive, benevolent force of nature, the force of bestowal and love; it gives a person a good feeling and a kind attitude toward others. Through it one exits their ego, rises above it, and becomes bestowing, kind, and good toward others.

The instant this force is revealed in a person, they begin to perceive reality differently. Instead of this world, one perceives the upper world.

We begin to perceive reality through newly acquired qualities, qualities not of reception, but of bestowal; no longer driven by a constant urge to receive solely for our own sake, exploiting everyone else in the process, but by a desire to act for the benefit of society as a whole. We see that everyone is interconnected like one family, and it is impossible for one to be well while another suffers.

Today we have reached a state where we must embark on this process of correction. We see that it is impossible to continue as before. Consequently, the wisdom of Kabbalah is revealed, which explains how we can correct ourselves and build a society connected by good relations.

Question: How is the holiday of Lag Ba’Omer connected to this process?

Answer: This is precisely where correction occurs. Kabbalah explains that our egoistic desire to receive—to absorb everything into ourselves at the expense of others—is an evil force within each person. Therefore our soul is called “shattered,” and we must repair it.

It is known in Kabbalah that the soul consists of 49 parts (7 X 7). There are 7 main qualities, each divided into 7, making 49 in total. Each must be corrected.

We correct them through the light that reforms, a special force that is hidden in nature. During the days of the Omer count, we reveal specific egoistic desires within ourselves that cause harm to others, and we seek to correct them.

We draw the light that reforms and it corrects each of these 49 parts of the soul.

In this way, we correct these 49 parts, from the holiday of Passover to Shavuot. But on the 33^rd day of the counting of the Omer, Lag Ba’Omer, there is a special state. Its uniqueness is that if we reach this stage in correction, we can be assured we will continue and complete it.

For this reason, it was on this day that Rabbi Shimon completed his work and departed from our world, and we celebrate the elevation of his soul.

Question: You say the soul has 49 parts. Can they actually be counted?

Answer: Yes. This is how we perceive them as we correct the soul. Even a simple religious person recites which Sefira he is correcting daily during the Omer, although he may not feel or understand it.

But those who study Kabbalah not only say these words, they realize these corrections within themselves.

Comment: The 49 days of the Omer conclude on the 50^th day, the holiday of Shavuot, when it is customary to eat dairy and wear white.

My Response: Shavuot is both the giving of the Torah from above and its reception from below. The giving has already occurred; the reception depends on us.

It is written that every day a person should say that the Torah has been given to him. The problem is only in receiving it, that is, in feeling that I must correct myself, and therefore I need the light that reforms.

Then I accept all the rules of the Torah: to be “as one man with one heart,” “love your neighbor as yourself,” and “do not do to another what is hateful to you.”

Let us hope that ultimately we will understand that we have a powerful force in our hands that is capable of correcting us and elevating us above this entire reality.
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From Kab Radio 103FM

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Question: The national anthem of Israel, called “The Hope” (Hatikva), contains the following lines: “Our hope is not yet lost, the hope that has lived for two thousand years: to be a free people in our land.” What does it mean to be a free people?

Answer: Genuine independence does not mean having the possibility to do whatever I want without considering anyone. We exist within the framework of nature in which two forces operate. The general force of nature is positive and giving; it created the entire world and it created the second force in opposition to itself: the negative, egoistic force.

It is precisely between these two forces that the created being can exist and feel itself as independent. The positive and negative forces rule over us, and therefore are considered the upper forces of nature. A person who is between them possesses freedom of choice as to which force to join.

This is called the middle line, when I know the positive and the negative forces, and freely choose which of them to regard as good and evil and which force will rule.

At the very moment I establish balance between these two forces, as if on the pans of a scale, I can be considered independent. For now neither the good nor the evil force, neither plus nor minus, is acting on me, and I myself determine the middle line.

Freedom is the dream of all nations, of all humanity, of all creation. It is only for the sake of striving for freedom that all electrons move, trees grow, flowers bloom, and beasts roam the forest in constant search.

People, animals, plants, and even stones all seek to attain such a balance that nothing will press upon them. Only then can one feel oneself living freely.

Of all the created beings—inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human—only the people of Israel have the key to this freedom and balance, that is, to independence. This is the key to that point toward which all parts of creation are directed.

This key is found in Kabbalah, in the inner part of the Torah. The people of Israel are capable of taking this key and, with its help, finding the equilibrium desired by all, the zero mark on the scale, in order to feel themselves independent and to show this path to all humanity.

Then the people of Israel will reach their proper realization. For this the state of Israel was created, and this is exactly what all the nations of the world are waiting for from us. And if we do not bring them this feeling of independence and freedom, this feeling of balance, then they feel their sharp dependence on us, and therefore hate the Jews and accuse us of hiding the possibility of a happy life from them .

Therefore the independence of the people of Israel is the basis of objective, true, and complete independence. And all other forms of independence that exist among the nations and among all other parts of nature depend on the people of Israel. We must understand to what extent the realization of our true freedom lies in our hands and obligates us to attain it for the sake of everyone.
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From KabTV’s conversation “New Life 551 – What Is True Independence?,” 4/12/15

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A person is born and exists in this world in order to attain independence from his nature, to break away from the inanimate level, from the desire to enjoy, and to build a form opposite to it.

This is what it means to become independent of the previous degree. The next degree does not exist in a ready‑made form that one can see and study to take an example from. There is no one for us to imitate. We can only strive for opposite qualities, and in this way we will build the next degree.

Each time desires and thoughts change and grow, and a person can work in order to build himself as independent of them. He develops more and more on the animate degree. This is no longer the simple animal he was born as. More and more egoism, the evil inclination, is revealed in him. But the evil was created so that above it we would build the opposite, spiritual degree, the good inclination, the human.

The human degree is characterized by the fact that it demands connection with others, in contrast to the animate degree where everyone feels himself ever more separate and distant from others. And at the same time, on the animate level it seems to him that by distancing himself from everyone he attains independence.

But in order to build myself on the human degree, I must annul myself and connect with everyone. And the question arises: where then is independence here? On the contrary, I neglect myself for the sake of others. This is the complete opposite.

We must realize how insignificant the animate independence to which we strive by the orders of nature is. And independence on the human degree is the striving to carry out the instructions of the higher force. We build our likeness to the higher to the extent that we can rise above our animate nature.

It is said: “Man and beast You save, O Creator.” Both these degrees rise, support one another, and together build independence from nature, from the desire to enjoy. In this way we attain the goal of creation, for the sake of which the Creator creates everything with an egoistic desire—so that above it we will build the human degree, Adam, similar to the Creator, in adhesion, in mutual support, in connection between all desires.

Everything that Baal HaSulam said about the people of Israel almost a hundred years ago is relevant even today. We really are like “nuts in a sack” because we hold together by compulsion, under the influence of external negative forces. No one knows the great mission of this people, which still has to be revealed. And therefore we envy all the other peoples who have the right to exist on their own land, which no one disputes.

But the Jews are such a special people to whom no other people in the world relates positively. This is a special phenomenon. And the people of Israel themselves, within themselves, are not able to unite naturally; they feel inner disunity.

And even non‑Jews in whom the point in the heart has awakened, the aspiration to connect with the higher force, which brings them to the study of Kabbalah, also reveal how different and far from each other they are. They have no desire to come closer to others.

It does not matter to which people they belong in the material world, but as soon as they unite in a group engaged in spiritual advancement, they immediately become similar to the people of Israel: just as disunited. Each group is like a sack of nuts, which grind against one another, and do not want to unite.

This is a manifestation of the same nature, both in the people of Israel and in Kabbalistic groups all over the world who wish to draw closer to the Creator. From this it is clear that the Jews are not a people, but also, in the past, a group of Kabbalists. Once they were on a spiritual degree, and were able to overcome separation and unite. Later they fell from this height, and now exist in an opposite form.

We must study our spiritual state from its opposite, which exists today. For the further we develop and try to be together, the worse we succeed at it. But we must rejoice that the evil is being revealed, our true nature. This nature is not an ordinary one; it is much worse than that of all other peoples because it comes from the breaking.

All the others have an ordinary, animate nature that strives for material well‑being for their body. But the people of Israel, by their attempts to unite and by studying Kabbalah, consciously or unconsciously awaken the upper light that returns to the source, and in this way they reveal the breaking, the absence of unity, of spirituality. And therefore anti‑spiritual qualities that are opposite to the Creator are revealed in us.

We must clarify and understand them, and relate to them with great respect because it is precisely above these consequences of the breaking, of corruption, of separation from the spiritual and from unity that we must build the corrected state. All these states that are opposite to unity and correction, as well as those that support unity, belong to the human degree. Therefore we must value them and work on them.

Correction relates only to the human degree. It demands our unity and closeness in opinions and sensations. Although no one gives up his opinion and feelings, the connection takes place above them, into “one man with one heart,” as in the first man, Adam HaRishon. The last, finally corrected man will be the same. The revelation of the past breaking points to the future correction.

Therefore today we are a special group, a new people, the people of the Creator, who are trying to revive themselves from the dust.

There are nations—that is, such desires to enjoy—that are united on the animate degree. They feel closeness and understanding according to their material qualities, and therefore they feel good together. Each one feels that it is worthwhile for him to belong to this group, to his people.

There are 70 such nations of the world, groups, each of which is characterized by its own spirit, degree of unity, level of existence, character, and physical genes. People naturally feel their belonging to one of the groups. Even if hatred arises between them, it is purely material, and does not relate to the spiritual.

But at the same time a group can exist on a higher degree, thanks to unification by a special goal. This goal is not natural, it is above material nature: to unite above one’s egoism. Here two opposites combine.

On the one hand, there is a negative connection between them because no one feels himself obliged to this group or bound to it. But on the other hand, they are united by a goal that is set artificially.

The common goal creates a common space for them because only by uniting together can they attain this exalted, lofty goal. And then they will be called a special people, not according to material DNA, but according to the spiritual genes (Reshimot) awakening in them.

Such a group, by attaining a new type of unity in contrast to the natural, material separation, is called the people of Israel (Yisra‑El) because it wants to become similar to the Creator (Yashar‑Kel), the higher force. It already possesses a new nature, a new essence.

From generation to generation it attempts to attain the higher force, and for this to create a method, to establish traditions in accordance with the higher force—holidays, special days, physical commandments in accordance with its spiritual attainment.

That is, a unity is formed according to spiritual laws. In history there appears a group of people who establish laws and traditions for themselves in accordance with the higher source.

Every people has its own traditions, but the traditions of the people of Israel correspond to spiritual degrees that were either attained in the past or designated for the future as “a sign for the sons.” These traditions remind a person of the spiritual degrees that he has yet to attain.
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From Daily Kabbalah Lesson on 5/9/19, “Independence Day”

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The people of Israel are not formed simply by ordinary individuals connecting with one another. They become a people because together they attach themselves to Moses.

Moses is called the “faithful shepherd,” that is, the emissary of the Creator within the people. And the concept “people of Israel” means that they are connected with Moses.

Moses is the quality of Israel (“Yashar El” – straight to the Creator), the one who points the way. The others, like a flock, simply follow him, and he leads them out of Egypt.

But if each one of the three million Jews who were in Egypt at the time had connected individually with Moses, would that not have sufficed? Why did they have to unite among themselves in order to be able to connect to Moses and, through him, to the Creator? Why was their unification a necessary condition?

The necessity to joining oneself to Moses means the annulment of egoism, of self‑love. And the result of this is love of the neighbor. Therefore, first the people unite among themselves, that is, they nullify their egoism, their love of self, and only then are they able to receive the message of love for the Creator from Moses, and through Moses, to connect with the Creator.

Not every person must attain the level of Moses, but everyone must accept the work “to love one’s neighbor” on the level appropriate to the ordinary people of Israel.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/8/26, Rabash, “Come unto Pharaoh – 2”

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The Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust is a special, very sorrowful day in the history of the Jewish people and of all humanity, since we are all connected with one another. On such a day we must speak about the causes of this tragedy and its lessons, so that “the deeds of the fathers may serve as a sign for the sons.”

There is nothing but the upper force, good and doing good, which governs us all the time. There is not a single action that goes beyond this good governance.

Therefore, if in our scrutiny we do not rise above our egoistic nature and begin to judge the Creator, doubting His good guidance, then we will deceive ourselves. Then all our investigation will bring no benefit and will lead us into the same bitter reality we are forced to speak about today.

The Creator feels our sensations. If we are united and rejoice in this, then the Creator rejoices. He has no sensations of His own; He resides within us, much like a mother who lives through her beloved infant. Through our connection with one another, we create a place for the Creator, a place where He can exist.

And if we are not connected, then there is no place for the Creator; consequently, we feel His actions in a distorted, inverted form, as if they do not come from Him. Every action is experienced in us in direct proportion to the degree of our unity or disunity.

The Creator resides within our connection with one another. This connection must be in a constant state of development, beginning from the initial shattering performed by the Creator up to the final correction, complete adhesion. As long as we do not lag behind in our advancement from the stages of correction we are destined to traverse, all is well with us. But if we fall behind, then we find ourselves in a dire state, one that we ourselves have brought about.

If at every moment we do not correct the connection between us, then we feel the difference between the desired state and the actual one. Suppose that today I must be corrected by 20% in my connection with all humanity and I have reached only 15% connection.

Consequently the missing 5% are revealed to me as pressure, problems. In essence, these are the forces that are meant to speed up my advancement, to make up for the delay, to extinguish the gap between the desired and the actual.

These forces do not testify to the goodness or evil of the Creator, but are simply a natural consequence of the work of the system, as it is said: “A law has been given and cannot be transgressed.” That is, one must evaluate not by how painful or pleasant it is for us, but by how much these forces, which are revealed to us as good or evil, help us to advance correctly.

The Creator does not wish us evil, but there is a law of nature, and in fulfilling it we feel our connection, whereas in violating it we feel pain, to such an extent that today we are forced to recall the Holocaust, the most sorrowful event in the history of the Jewish people.

And of course, it was not caused by the Creator, but by people who were obliged to correct the connection between them and did not correct it. The delay in correction was so enormous that it poured out into terrible suffering.

What lessons can we draw from this? Throughout the journey from ancient Babylon until today many tragic events have occurred, and all for a single reason. Since the Creator represents the general law of nature, the system shows us the necessity of connection. But we do not listen to it and do not hasten to rectify the delay, we consequently receive the corresponding consequences. In fact, we ourselves have caused them and cannot blame the Creator.

We are aware of the requisite conditions, but we do not fulfill them; in doing so, we summon forces that push us toward our ultimate goal with greater severity and resolve.  Throughout history tension and troubles have pursued us: exiles, enslavement in Egypt, wandering in the desert, and the destruction of the Temple. But the Holocaust is a state of an entirely unique nature.

In the course of its historical development, the people of Israel had already reached the point where the fourth degree of connection within the soul of Adam HaRishon became a necessity, but failed to realize it. Even today we are not fulfilling this goal, so what can we expect? Only states even worse than those that we have already endured. We must learn from history in order not to repeat the same states.

After Babylon and Egypt, blows pursue us one after another at every moment when we do not create the connection between us in the required measure. The punishment will be collective for the entire people of Israel. And today we are responsible not only for ourselves, but for the whole world.

At one time it was possible to carry out the correction in a limited group, within the European Jewry. The Nazis themselves wanted to help the Jews revive the State of Israel. At first, they acted as forces helping the correction. But if we do not use the chance given to us, these forces turn into negative ones.

And today, if we do not use the forces serving to awaken us, forces that are already manifesting as negative, they will turn into something far more terrible ones than anything we witnessed before. Today’s Holocaust would be on a different scale entirely, not confined to Europe, but would encompass the whole world. Therefore, it is imperative that we understand this reality and hasten to undertake the necessary corrections before it is too late.

If we unite, then the upper force flows through us to all the nations of the world, to all of reality, and gradually the whole world attains a state of unity. At that point, all turmoil subsides, the Creator begins to reveal Himself to the created beings, and the world attains its destined correction.

If, however, we, the people of Israel, do not unite among ourselves, at least within Israel, where there are the best conditions for connection, if we do not become as one man with one heart, do not love our neighbor as ourselves, do not become a light for the nations of the world by demonstrating an example of unity to the world, then we will pass through such terrible states that the horrors of the Holocaust will pale in comparison.

Merits can turn into faults and faults into merits. Therefore, we must believe that we currently have the opportunity, the time, the place, and all the necessary means to avoid repeating the mistake made by the Jewish people almost a hundred years ago.

We must not squander the opportunity to unite among ourselves in order to connect with the upper force that is inherently good and the source of all goodness. Through us this force, which wants to be revealed to all the inhabitants of this world, will be able to manifest. We must help it in this and become a conduit between it and humanity.

Let us not repeat past mistakes. The wisdom of Kabbalah describes the laws of nature, laws that operate independently of whether we find them pleasant or unpleasant, laws that do not take into account anyone’s partisan or economic interests. There is no doubt that had the Jewish people behaved differently back then, the world today would look completely different.

Everything lies in our hands; we determine our fate and the fate of the whole world. The law of nature is an immutable law that must be fulfilled. The Creator does not pity us and does not punish us, He simply carries out this universal law. The Creator is nature, and according to nature’s program we are obliged to unite in one desire, in one intention, according to a single formula of mutual bestowal. We must bring this unity to the world—this is our mission.

Let us not repeat the bitter mistakes of the past; instead, on this solemn day, let us resolve to take upon ourselves the sacred duty of leading the world toward true unity.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/9/19 on the topic “Holocaust Remembrance Day”

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Question: What is “leaven” (Chametz) that we so carefully remove before the holiday of Passover?

Answer: The leaven before Passover is the evil inclination that we had in Egypt that we used in order to fight with one another.

But the leaven we return to after Passover is used differently. We use it in order to bestow upon one another. After all, without the bad relationships we had before, we would not know how to establish good ones. That is, we use the opposite—where there was hatred, there will now be love.

Yet this new leaven is not the same as the previous leaven because I use it for the sake of bestowal, for the sake of love.

For example, before I would constantly take your toys when playing with you, and I would enjoy the fact that you cried, screamed, and ran to complain to your mother. Now I decide that I will no longer do this. So what do I live on? “The bread of affliction,” Matzah. What do I gain from this? What pleasures are there in life? None! For seven days I remain in such a state.

Then I pass as though through a tiny opening, from exile to redemption. This is called the crossing of the final sea (Red Sea). That is, I exit the state in which I used my ego and enjoyed my own power, like Pharaoh.

And afterward when I have made the decision to become different, that same leaven, that is, those same toys that I took from you and enjoyed your crying about it, I return to you, and now I enjoy the fact that you receive pleasure.

This is bread after the exodus from Egypt, not the “bread of affliction,” not even ordinary bread, but a luxurious cake that is 620 times richer, that we call “bread of love.”

We take all the evil that we had in Egypt and turn it into good. This is what the people of Israel wept about during the forty years of wandering in the desert. They cry, “Where is our Egypt?!” because they include it within themselves, and then they correct it, again and again.
[157210]
From KabTV’s conversation “New Life 539 – Jewish Culture: Between Chametz (Leavened Food) And Matzah,” 3/24/15

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Question: I grew up in Israel, and for me Hanukkah is a very childlike holiday with doughnuts and the dreidel. And suddenly I hear from you that Hanukkah has a spiritual meaning. How should I relate to the lighting of the candles so that this action is not merely external?

Answer: This is a spiritual action. There is nothing in the Israeli holidays that is not connected to the spiritual. After all, we exist only in order to attain our soul,  what is called the future world, the upper world, the higher dimension, that we must reach.

At present we see the picture of this world: houses, sky, sea, people, everything around me. Behind this picture we need to find a crack into the upper world, widen it, open up the horizons, and see that we are located only in a very small sphere, in a tiny part of a much greater, more spacious, infinite world.

Our entire universe is also within our current world. But we must reveal the world beyond it as well. This is what we human beings are meant for. For we do not belong to the still, vegetative, and animate levels that are bound to nature, but to the human level.

A “human being” in Hebrew is “Adam,” from the word “domeh,” similar to the Creator. We are not only capable of reaching such a state, but are simply obliged to attain it, to reveal the entire true reality that lies beyond what now appears to us as this world.

Then we will reveal not only infinite spaces, but also ourselves as existing in an infinite, perfect form, within this vast, expansive, light-filled reality that is revealed to us.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is intended for this. All the holidays speak to us about this, including Hanukkah, about how we begin to open the upper world for ourselves, expand our organs of perception and reality, and then emerge from all these narrow, bitter limitations.

All this lies before us. But everything depends on the unity between us, because unity is precisely the action that begins to open the boundaries of the present reality. And the pressures we feel today are meant to push us to accelerate and reveal the true world.

Therefore when lighting the Hanukkah candles—together with Hanukkah songs, games with children using the dreidel, and tasty doughnuts—let us think that the true Hanukkah is like a housewarming, for we are opening a new world for ourselves through uniting with one another.
[172119]
From Radio Station 103FM 12/6/15

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