Entries in the 'Nations of the World' Category

Inner Exile

747.01The sons of the people of Israel who left Egypt continue their correction during the forty-year journey through the desert with the help of the Torah they received, enter the land of Israel, and reach the level called the First Temple.

After that, they must mix with an even greater Aviut (coarseness), which increases both within them and among the nations of the world. This pertains, of course, to the system of souls, but it is evident from history that corresponding processes occur in physical bodies as well.

As a result, each person from Israel feels an addition of Aviut, and then what is called an inner exile takes place when they are no longer able to remain in the degree of adhesion with the Creator that they had attained.

Now they are capable of less; new desires grow stronger within them. This means that a person enters into a connection with the nations of the world within themselves, and in accordance with that, external processes unfold that lead to destruction.

Destruction means that we mentally disconnect from that perception of life in which we are united with one force, with one thought, and we begin to fall into the multitude of desires.
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From the 1st part from the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/14/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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The Merit of the Fathers

631.3The purpose of creation is intended for all souls—each individually and all together. However, it is impossible for everyone to attain this goal collectively because in some people the condition of Arvut (Mutual Guarantee) is initially unable to awaken immediately; it can only emerge after the prior work done by other souls.

Baal HaSulam writes that the forefathers did not need the condition of Arvut because their souls were subtle, and due to their exaltedness and purity, they were already in Dvekut (Adhesion) with the Creator without performing practical actions, that is, without carrying out preliminary corrections or fulfilling commandments.

They did not need to reach the condition of “we shall do and we shall hear” because by virtue of their subtlety, their souls were originally ready to exist in mutual guarantee without making the efforts that are required from us with our coarse Aviut.

Due to their purity, subtle souls receive the Torah, and the mutual guarantee is realized within them. This leads to the fulfillment of the condition “love your neighbor as yourself.” Then the light of the Torah clothes within them and they dwell in adhesion with the Creator.

After our forefathers attained this, the merit of the fathers arose for the sons. In other words, those souls that are now capable of joining the subtle souls with their more coarse Aviut use these pure souls by means of connection and mutual inclusion.

Therefore, the law of mutual guarantee is also realized for them, but only after performing certain work, prior actions. What are these actions? Everything that can lead them to the condition of mutual guarantee.

And once they attain this, they merit receiving the Torah, that is, the light, the system of correction of their Aviut for the purpose of achieving the principle “love your neighbor as yourself” when the Creator will already dwell in their common Kli (vessel).

For receiving the Torah, it is enough to fulfill the condition “we shall do and we shall hear,” that is, the agreement that the power of mutual guarantee should exist so that we should want to fulfill it, so that this ability would come from above. And upon receiving the power of the Torah, we begin to carry it out, and then we become “as one man with one heart” and a single Kli (vessel). We merit receiving the Torah, and then we must fulfill it, that is, begin the corrections.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/8/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Fulfill Your Duty without Any Calculations

625.06Question: We understand that it is us who lack something, not the nations of the world, and as soon as we take a step forward, it will be revealed in them as well. What is it that we lack?

Answer: We lack a Jew like you who has access to the people that is fulfilling the task placed upon him! That is, you must pull yourself together, gather your strength, and start doing what is necessary for correction!

Question: In what sense?

Answer: Without senses and explanations! Bring to each and every one of your people the knowledge of what our duty is.

Comment: But they do not accept it.

My Response: It does not matter that they do not accept it. You must do the work without making calculations. The results of it should not be visible to our eyes at all. The consequences come differently.

From your work in this small country aimed at awakening the people, you may not see any results here. But suddenly, Americans will start talking about it, and then it will be accepted by our whole nation. Why? Because of our intermingling and mutual incorporation with foreign cultures.

How do you know in what form it must come? You must do what you are obligated to do. That is why many say: “What do you want from us? It is all true, but what can I do?” A person responds like this even without knowing Kabbalah. But why do you, knowing all this, say the same thing?

All these things are not theoretical! They are given to us so we may fulfill them. The Torah is not a subject to study like philosophy. There is nothing in it that is subject to theoretical contemplation! It is subject to realization. It is our life, it is the most general law of the universe that encompasses all other laws.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/13/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Understand the Creator’s Plan

235In the generations from Adam to Noah and from Noah onward, both in the people of Israel and among the nations of the world, the Aviut (the thickness of the desire) was still very small.

Abraham is unique in his generation in that a yearning for the Creator was revealed in him despite the fact that his father Terach was an idol-worshipper and engaged in Avoda Zara (foreign work), meaning he believed that there are many forces in the world besides the Creator that each act independently.

If a person “sees” that all these forces govern him for better or worse, he turns to each of them. He does not consider that behind them stands another force, one that unites them all, possesses thought, has a program and a goal for humanity, and uses all these forces merely as its messengers, messengers that have no program of their own, no free will, and no particular relation to a person. He does not believe that everything is governed by a single force.

This in essence is the qualitative difference between Abraham and his father. The approach that one must believe there is a single force and seek it replaces the former view of nature as a collection of many forces. This refers to a qualitative effort and distinction that requires a special purification of the “body,” that is, the desire to receive.

Abraham taught this to his followers; he taught that behind all the forces stands a single thought, a single desire. None of the individual forces contains good or evil; behind them is one thought that is good and benevolent to both the wicked and the righteous, which leads a person to the goal.

Good and evil, though perceived differently by us, serve one purpose. We must understand the plan of the Creator and accept it, relate to it rationally, correctly, and develop ourselves accordingly.

The Creator demands that we participate in our development from our own independent desire. This is the only way we can be truly independent; it is by strengthening ourselves on the path of development, that is, by accepting His program and realizing it.

In essence, no one in the generation of Abraham, except Abraham himself, grasped this idea. People did not yet have a prepared foundation within their souls to reveal the true picture of reality. Abraham, however, came to this through purification, that is, a special quality in the soul.
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From the 1st part from the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/14/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Reaching an Agreement with the Group

524.01Comment: We have a short list of 30 points of advice from Rabash about the group that we have no chance of fulfilling.

My Response: That we have no chance of fulfilling them is correct. However, we do have the means for it.

Of course, I do not have the strength to subjugate my will to receive in relation to the group, and therefore also in relation to the Creator. What is the difference? Simply that what concerns the Creator is concealed, and I can fall into self-deception, get confused, and decide that I am already righteous, and everything is working out for me.

But in relation to the group, things are clearer. And if you are asking about this now, then perhaps you already see that you are incapable. That is when you come to the real question.

A person does not find the strength or the willingness to unite with the group within himself. He only understands that, in principle, he must do it: This is what the Kabbalists write, and apparently, if I do not accept it, then I am not progressing.

From here we see that we are standing, just like the people of Israel at Mount Sinai, before a condition that if you do not do this as one man with one heart, meaning if you do not surrender yourself to the group, if you do not wish to carry out this connection by subjugating yourself to it, you feel dead. “Here will be the place of your burial.”

Nothing more is needed except this mutual agreement. By saying: “We shall do and we shall hear,” we agree for it to happen. And then it happens.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/14/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Make Use of the Merit of the Fathers

234Question: From what Baal HaSulam writes in the article “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”, it seems that spirituality is passed down genetically. Once, thanks to the merits of the forefathers, their sons received it, and now we do as well. What does “the merit of the fathers” mean? Is it something passed on through genes?

Answer: Attraction toward spirituality is not hereditary. It is clearly stated that the Torah is not inherited. So what is the merit of the fathers?

The merit of the fathers means that within a great Aviut (coarseness of egoistic desire), there are sparks through which even a person immersed in deep egoism feels an attraction to what lies above the ego.

If a soul is in a state of zero-degree Aviut (Aviut de Shoresh), it naturally feels drawn to spirituality, to the Creator, to adhesion, to striving for mutual guarantee, for connection. Where does this come from? From the closeness of the properties of the Kelim (vessels) to the lights.

In this case, no prior actions or special limitations are required because it is clear that under such conditions we receive the Torah, spiritual life, and attain bestowal, which is felt as something special and exalted in a pure vessel.

But when the Kli (vessel) has a high degree of Aviut, meaning its desire to receive is more developed, it becomes difficult to understand how bestowal could fill the Kli and bring satisfaction. It is hard to imagine that the condition of Arvut—exiting oneself in order to serve the other, to unite with the other, to connect specifically with their vessels in order to fill them instead of one’s own desires—could be something good or elevated. This is not felt as something real in a coarse Kli.

However, if this coarse Kli is a result of the development of “refined” vessels, then it contains a pure part that has truly been close to the light and has fulfilled the condition of Arvut at the level of zero Aviut.

And even if the Kli now has a first-degree Aviut (Aviut Alef), it still has a foundational base called “the fathers within it.” It can be awakened through certain actions or, alternatively, suppressed, as if returning to zero Aviut.

This is what it means to “make use of the merit of the fathers.”
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/8/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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How Can Israel Attain Mutual Guarantee?

939.02Question: Are the people of Israel the smallest, most narrow part that must be corrected first?

Answer: Israel, in correcting itself, is indeed the most narrow part of reality. A question arises: why is it the most narrow? After all, we see that the sons of Israel appear coarser than all others.

The reason is that, for the sake of correction, egoism is currently being revealed in them, while it is not yet revealed in the nations of the world. But when the time comes for the nations to begin their correction, their egoism, Aviut, will also become increasingly apparent.

So how does Israel reach mutual guarantee? By suppressing the forces of the nations of the world within it and awakening its own narrow part, it draws on what is called the “merit of the forefathers.” However, the merit of the forefathers is something general. One must take action within the narrow part in order to reach the state of mutual guarantee.

This is the inner preparation of the narrow parts in the souls. If one uses only them correctly, meaning brings them to a correction called guarantee, then a connection between these narrow parts will form the first Kli in which the upper light can dwell. In other words, they will then receive the Torah.

Only in this way can we come to receive the Torah. If someone believes he already has it, that we once received it already, then I have nothing to say to him. What did he receive? A book that sits on a shelf in his room?

We are talking about the upper light that resides in a person’s soul and brings spiritual life into his existence.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/9/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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The People of Israel Must Fulfill the Law of Mutual Guarantee

221.0In engaging with mutual guarantee, we must first of all fulfill this law within the people of Israel, and only afterward will the entire world join in.

Ultimately, everyone, without exception, is obligated to fulfill this law. Baal HaSulam writes that even in the most advanced states called “the last generation,” there will still be people who are unable to understand the precise interpretation of the law “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Yet, they will join it even without awareness of the necessity of Arvut.

But in any case, because in the collective soul of Adam HaRishon many types of souls exist that differ in character, depth, attainment, understanding, and participation, then naturally for each type, the fulfillment of Arvut, and the relative participation, will differ in accordance with their capacity, attainment, and the depth of the desire that governs them, or that they have already acquired.

Still, it is Israel—those who aspire to the Creator—who must be the first to achieve this fulfillment.

Then, as Baal HaSulam writes, a small community must be organized in which all the laws will be established, as if in one nation. Afterward, more and more groups must join them until this law becomes a model for the entire world.

But as Baal HaSulam writes, they will join gradually in accordance with the understanding of responsibility placed upon each of those who are within the group whose charter is Arvut.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/11/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)

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Lag Ba’Omer: The Secret of a Great Soul

293Question: On the holiday of Lag Ba’Omer, bonfires are lit everywhere, children roast potatoes and celebrate. Yet on this same day, Rabbi Shimon passed away. I do not understand the connection. What are we celebrating?

Answer: A person remains in this world until they complete their mission, if they manage to complete it. Rabbi Shimon did.

As it is written in The Book of Zohar, he ascended with his students through all 125 spiritual degrees and reached the final correction of the soul (Gmar Tikkun). His students, together with him, attained those same upper degrees, from the height of which they wrote The Book of Zohar.

Therefore his departure from our world brings not sorrow, but on the contrary, joy. Because this person revealed the entire path to the final correction of the soul to us. He prepared the way for us and the upper lights that can come and correct us. That is why we celebrate the day when he completed his work and left this world.

If a person does not know what they are living for, then they cry when they die or when others die. But for the righteous, who spend their entire lives correcting their soul, there is no issue in transitioning from one world to another.

My teacher Rabash once answered my question about death by saying that just as you take off your shirt in the evening and throw it in the wash, so too when a person dies, they shed the wrapping of the soul called the body, and the soul remains. After all, the soul is what matters, and each time it clothes itself in a different body, just as the next day you put on a new shirt.

Question: Where does the soul remain?

Answer: The soul is a force that exists in the same space in which we live. You just do not feel those dimensions. Do you feel radio waves or TV signals? You do not perceive many phenomena with your senses. Only if, for example, you have a radio receiver can you catch the radio waves, but on your own you do not feel them.

It is the same with spiritual phenomena. You have no tools to detect them, and therefore you do not feel them.

The soul is a special kind of energy that exists here. If, through studying the wisdom of Kabbalah, you become similar to it in your qualities, then you will begin to feel it, you will start to reveal that you have a soul. Until you reveal it, you do not have it. If you have not revealed it, then it means it does not exist for you.
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From KabTV’s On the Radio Station 103FM

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The 33rd Day of the Omer—A Guarantee of Correction

276.01If we attempt to unite, we discover that our nature is absolute evil, complete egoism that acts solely for its own benefit and to the detriment of others. Even if we think we have some good intentions toward others, these too ultimately turn out to be hidden egoism.

With the help of the light that returns to the source, we gradually reveal our egoistic qualities—from the lightest to increasingly heavier ones—and correct them. In this way, our evil egoistic desire is graded through 49 degrees.

Through special actions, we draw the light to ourselves; it is a special force of nature that corrects our egoistic qualities. We do not know how the light works on us; we only notice the result of its influence—the changes within ourselves.

We reveal 49 degrees of egoistic desire within ourselves, and transform them into 49 degrees of ascent toward bestowal and love for others. But the main thing is to correct the first 33 degrees within ourselves. According to the calculation, if we correct ourselves up to and including the 33rd degree, the remaining degrees will inevitably be corrected as well.

We will still need to demand corrections and work on them. But there is already a guarantee, a certain additional force that ensures the correction of the remaining degrees.

After all, the final degrees are the most difficult. They are at the very end of correction, and the process proceeds from the easier to the increasingly more difficult. The last desires are very heavy, but we already have confidence that we will be able to correct them.

Moreover, we can ignite these last desires. They are so heavy that they ignite upon contact with the light that returns to the source. Inside them rages such powerful egoism that they begin to burn and radiate light. These most egoistic desires, directed solely toward self-receiving, undergo the most difficult correction—to receive for the sake of bestowal.

Therefore, Lag BaOmer (the 33rd day of the Omer) is a special holiday that signifies our inevitable attainment of the special day of global correction, which is called Shavuot, the festival of the giving of the Torah.

This holiday is called Shavuot because it comes after seven weeks (shavuot) of counting the Omer. Moreover, it is the festival of the giving of the Torah, through which we corrected our egoistic desire into a desire for bestowal and love for others. This corrected desire shines entirely with its bestowal, love, and the connection of all into one nation.

The holiday of Shavuot symbolizes the possibility of our connection into one single nation.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 559 – Holidays And Festivals: Lag Ba’Omer,” 5/3/15

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