Question: During the lesson we work with the Light that corrects us. But what do we work with at the Convention?

Answer: At the Convention this happens even more! We don’t have any other means to influence what is happening to us besides the Light that reforms. It is the only thing we can awaken!

We awaken our future states that haven’t been revealed in us yet and which are about to be revealed. They are states of bestowal to the outside, where every person bestows outward, to his neighbor. This is precisely the quality that we want to discover—each person inside of him and all of us as a whole.

When we reveal this quality of bestowal, it means that we have revealed the Creator. As Kabbalists tell us, this quality gave birth to us, formed us, and dispersed us far away from one another so that by uniting with each other we would reveal it once again.

In the meantime, the Creator is in exile. What does that mean? We can say that He also disintegrated into tiny pieces and is inside all of these broken parts that are far away from one another. As soon as you begin connecting them, you start to recreate or restore Him, the common force of bestowal.

We have to build an image for ourselves that is close to the truth. Otherwise we live in various religious fantasies, imagining an unreal, non-materialistic picture.

We have to understand that the difference between faiths or religions and the science of Kabbalah is that faiths or religions want to imagine spirituality in the material desires, which perceive everything “within” and therefore build their notions according to the earthly reality, with creation being below and the Creator being above, as if they are separated by distance rather than qualities. They do not talk about man’s correction.

In contrast, the science of Kabbalah says that everything is inside of man. Thus, the upper reality or dimension becomes revealed in a person’s inner corrections and changes. Therefore, the most important thing for us is to correct man. By correcting our qualities, a person feels that the Creator is revealed inside of him.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/11, The Zohar

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We are inside of a screen on which our qualities are depicted. And if they are egoistic, then accordingly they are depicted before our desire to enjoy on the still, vegetative, animate, and human levels (in sizes 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4). Thus, we see them as the world around us. That means the reality I see, feel, and in which I live is an imprint or reflection of the desires and thoughts that are inside of me.

If in addition to my general nature, the qualities of reception, I also acquire a second nature, the quality of bestowal, then just like on a computer screen I reveal one more window on which I see the upper world—the force of my soul. Now I recognize that what I see in the first window is a projection of my receiving forces, while in the second window, I depict the form of my unification with other people for the sake of bestowal.

To the degree I am able to unite with others at least on the level of “don’t do to others what you hate,” to that extent I can recognize the spiritual world. And now everything depends on the calculation I make, on how I continuously awaken myself to transfer reality from the material world to the spiritual world.

The most perfect spiritual state is Purim, which comes from the word Pur—lot. In this state my desires are corrected and I am united with all of the souls, thus fulfilling my soul with the upper Light according to the law of equivalence of form.

Purim is the celebration of the final correction. When we celebrate this holiday, we attract the force from that corrected state which corrects and unites us.

The custom to wear masks and dress up in costumes on this day came to us because Haman (the egoistic desire) dresses into the clothing of Mordechai (the altruistic desire), which means that we can receive Light into the great desires of Haman through the qualities of Mordechai.

This is also why on the holiday of Purim there is a custom to eat cookies in the shape of a triangle called “Haman’s pockets.” A pocket symbolizes the desire to receive. We have to receive these desires from Haman and then, with the help of Mordechai, by means of the Light of Hassadim, the quality of bestowal, correct them by the intention for the sake of bestowal. Then we will be able to receive the Light of Hochma, the revelation of the Creator, meaning the state of the final correction.
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From the lecture on 3/15/11 on Purim

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The Zohar, Chapter “Yitro (Jethro),” Item 199: His forehead is big but not so much, its lines are five—three across from one side of the forehead to the other, and two are not across. He is confrontational, especially in his home, all his actions are quick, he seems good but he is not so. He praises himself with what is not in him. … He is lenient in his speech, but nothing more, pushes himself where he does not belong, and one who collaborates with him should be careful of his greed, but will succeed with him.

The Zohar is telling us about how complicated we are inside. Every time we reveal new qualities inside of us, which may be good or bad and which constantly come to replace one another, we must use them to discern all of our opportunities to realize ourselves in the current state, to discover all of our weaknesses and limitations. That is how time after time, a person attains himself more, and that means he attains the Creator, as it is written, “I will know You from Your actions.”

When all is said and done, our entire path is the path of self-attainment, the attainment of ourselves. In essence, the entire science of Kabbalah explains to a person who he is—the Creator’s doing. Therefore, you don’t need anything more: To the extent you understand how the Creator created you, what He created in you, why, and in what form, that is how much you will attain Him.

Therefore, when reading the descriptions of these images of man, we have to understand that not one of them becomes erased. All of them complement one another through their qualities, which are similar or opposite to the Light, and in the end they attain the image of the Creator.

Besides, we have to understand that it is talking about a person who advances in spirituality and this is how he sees himself for now, with his positive and negative qualities compared to the Light, the Creator. But the person himself is judging himself, and he discerns these qualities himself. Another person would see them differently because “every person judges to the extent of his own flaws.”

If a certain picture appears before him now, it only seems to him, but does not exist by itself in reality. The only picture that exists by itself is the image of the Creator. But these images are depicted inside a person by his inner qualities.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/16/11, The Zohar

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When I begin reforming my relationships with the entire world, with all other souls, and with the friends in the group that study with me, I suddenly discover that there is only the Creator and me, and nobody else. In other words, there are my friends, the world, the still, vegetative, and animate nature, people, and souls, and all of which are, essentially, the manifestations of the Creator as pertains to me.

After all, the Creator cannot show Himself to me as the Light without the vessel (Kli) since I will have nothing with which to perceive Him. Therefore, the Creator divides creation into two parts: the creation itself, its soul, and the other desires besides this creation which are properties of the Creator.

“The Creator” (Boreh) derives from the Hebrew words “come” and “see” (Bo and Reh). In other words, if the created being connects with the Kli that is seemingly outside of it, thereby it expresses its attitude toward the Creator, and in this vessel, the Light appears. All of this gives the creature an opportunity to perceive the upper (relative to itself) force.

Then, the creature begins to understand the Creator’s “language,” the conversation that the Creator is having with it. Sometimes, it seems to the creature that this “external” Kli is above it and at other times, that it is below it. At times, it views the world as an empty vacuum where there is nothing at all. However, if the creature realizes that it is the Creator who makes this empty space for the creature to fill with its desire to bestow on its own, it receives room for work.

In this void, there is a lack of the Light of faith, the Light of bestowal, Hassadim (Mercy). If the creature is able to fill this empty dimension with the Light of Hassadim, consequently, it joins the Creator and can find there the Light of Hochma (Wisdom) as well.

There are opposite states when the Creator allows the creature to feel itself fulfilled. First, you feel that you stand before an enormous Light that is outside of you for now. This sensation is given to us in the first nine Sefirot (Tet Reshinot). You have to make a restriction on it, lift your inner boundary so that you can receive the Light (in the Nikvey Eynaim), and work in the three lines in order to measure the fulfillment that stands before you with your screen, or to discern to what extent you can receive it in order to bestow.

Thus, we advance, undergoing various states, while not always being aware of them. However, they unfold only when we don’t forget that there is only a single Light and a single vessel that is divided into many parts for our sake, which we have to gradually incorporate into ourselves with the intention to bestow.

On this path, there are two stages for us. The first one is the rung of Bina (Hafetz Hesed) where a person cannot really connect with the others for now and only learns to resist his or her egoism, rise above one’s desires over one’s “evil inclination” that is being revealed to them, and obtains the Kelim of GE (Galgalta Eynaim).

Later on, a person starts working with the “unification of the property of mercy and the vessel” when even one’s desires to receive that are included in him are used solely to bestow.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/15/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Kabbalists, who explore the upper reality, explain to us that we started our entire evolution in the world of Infinity, Ein Sof, where we were all tied together as one man with one heart, into one point—that’s how strong our bond was. This bond was initially sustained by the force of the upper Light that controlled and fulfilled us.

But later on, we started to descend from this world of Infinity since our connection began to weaken. Between us, distance was formed, which kept growing (the worlds of Adam Kadmon, Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya in the drawing below), until we fell to the level of our present existence, the lowest degree of the world of Assiya.

This descent signifies that under the impact from Above, we gradually lost the Light that filled the space between us. The Light kept decreasing intentionally, on its own, and in the end, distance emerged between us. While in the world of Infinity we were all tied together, by the time we reached the world of Assiya we became withdrawn from each other at a great distance. Now we experience ourselves as two separate realities: yours and mine. Our ego, which rules us, is responsible for the gap that divides us. This is how everyone of us feels.

Now there are seven billion of such alienated egoistic-individualists in our world. But it’s true that in the world of Infinity we existed as one man! And in accord with our sensation, reality has changed as well since we experience it as the sensation in our desire, in our properties.

But we have to understand that we are dealing with two big discrepancies: the reality we feel and the reality where we, in fact, exist. We feel very alien from one another, far from perfection, eternity, and endless fulfillment, somewhere on the outskirts of the entire creation, in this transient world. And yet, the connection between us remains, and it is very strong. We are still tied by the mutual guarantee, as the same one man with one heart.

We simply don’t wish to follow these conditions, and that is the only problem. But nature mandates for us to be connected nonetheless. It’s just that this connection is revealed to us not at the level of the law in the world of Infinity, but in the extent that we have withdrawn from it.

In other words, we are not presently expected to meet all the conditions of guarantee that govern the world of Infinity in which we were absolutely connected with all our desires as one whole and there was only one soul in the center of all creation. We only need to understand that we remain tied together, you and I, and that there is a connection between us.

These ties exist between all of the souls who in the past were together but are distanced today. But we all have a need to return to the center we came from.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/14/2011 on Mutual Guarantee

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As we return to the world of Infinity from the place on the edge of the universe, where each of us has been cast, and approach the center, we feel an increasingly greater closeness with others. And so it is until we come back to Infinity. This means that we return to carrying out the law of unity and mutual guarantee in a greater and greater degree, along the 125 rungs of connection, everyone’s dependency on all.

A person starts discovering this integral and desired interconnection and, accordingly, feels the Light that fills him within. After all, he became similar to the Light, and the property of bestowal fills him now. And then he begins experiencing the spiritual world.

All this space on his path to the world of Infinity is regarded as the spiritual world because it can be perceived only in the extent of one’s unity with the others. All reality left behind this sensation is regarded as this world since that’s how one feels it when he breaks the ties with all the rest.

In other words, there are two types of reality. In one, we wish to withdraw from all others and therefore feel this material world. And if we gravitate to the opposite side, wishing to bond with them instead, we experience the spiritual world.

The law of mutual guarantee is the supreme law of all creation; it is timeless and mandatory for its every part. All the still, vegetative, and animate nature obeys it instinctively, following the inner call, under the influence of the embedded genes and nature’s forces. And the same pertains to man at the preliminary stages of his development when he carries out the law instinctively within.

And only when a person comes to the “speaking” level of development does he start receiving properties that do not blindly abide by this law. A person must accept this law willingly and start following it.

First of all, a person needs to discover this law, study it, and learn to desire to follow it, ask for ability to follow it, meaning ask to be transformed by the Light that Reforms. And when this Light descends to him, he accepts the conditions of the mutual guarantee and willingly starts following, sensing, and keeping them, thereby discovering one unified soul, the mutual bond.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/14/2011 on Mutual Guarantee

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Question: How can we build a model of the global, integral world inside of us?

Answer: Imagine yourself connected with the group. Thanks to that you will be able to form a small, compact Kli inside of you that is global, integral, and unified.

Then you will understand what the real world is. It isn’t seven billion miserable people who don’t know where to perch themselves, but their interconnection. You will discover that you clearly distinguish all parts of the world through your small Kli, like through glasses. You can measure the distances between them, compare their colors, and recognize faces….

How did this happen? It’s because your Kli, your instrument, is inside in front of your mind’s eye, but through it you see deep into the entire world. You build this small Kli into yourself, which is the group that you are connected with, and this is enough to see the true world and its inner interconnection.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/15/11

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Kabbalists are scientists who study nature that exists above the limitations created by our physical body, meaning above the limits sensed in our egoistic desire. In this desire we feel a certain reality we call this world, in which we exist.

However, if a person has the opportunity, the aspiration, and the means to obtain the desire to bestow, through this desire he begins to sense a new reality, as it is said: “I saw a reverse world.” Then a person senses two realities: He continues to sense the old world in his desire to receive, and he perceives an additional, new world in his desire to bestow.

The egoistic desire has a certain time frame of existence within a person, and while it’s there, a person senses life in this world. The desire undergoes three stages: conception, nurturing, and adulthood (Ibur–Yenika–Mochin). The desire grows through these stages and then gradually weakens, until it disappears completely.

These stages determine the sensation of our life: birth, childhood, and adulthood. A person lives his life, then grows older, and dies. One feels death because he can no longer feel anything in his desire to receive.

However, life within the desire to bestow isn’t as temporary as the corporeal life. In it we receive an unlimited perception of reality. It doesn’t depend upon our desire to bestow since bestowal is directed “outward,” unlike the egoistic desire that’s directed inward. This is why we always have the opportunity to develop. Our desire to bestow never runs out or dies because it continues to expand without any limitations.

For this reason, a person senses an eternal life within the desire to bestow. And because this fulfillment never ends, but on the contrary, becomes greater, such existence is called eternal and perfect. But in order to become familiar with this state, one must first carry out a course of actions to acquire the desire to bestow, in which he will sense his spiritual life.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/14/2011 on Mutual Guarantee

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The Creator initially creates a perfect being. However, in order for it to realize and feel where it is, it first needs to live through various sensations and impressions in order to learn, sense, and examine the state created by the Creator and see that it is perfect for itself.

Hence, the state itself doesn’t change. The Creator is good and does only good, but in this perfect condition, we undergo multiple tests and assessments that aid us in understanding and feeling more correctly the depth of all the good that the Creator prepared for us.

This defines the entire process we undergo, all our experiences at the intermediate stages of this path to awareness. It is not our state itself which changes, but rather our perception, the revelation of this perfection. We start to understand more and more where we are and what is happening to us, until we learn what our authentic state is.

When our real state becomes revealed to us, it is regarded as spiritual birth. Later on, we go through 125 rungs of becoming conscious of it. When the impressions of this path accumulate and gather in us mentally and emotionally, we will finally realize the state we were in from the beginning, with only one difference: We have transformed ourselves, our perceptions, and have become able to feel this perfection.

On this path, we undergo two stages. First of all, we attain that we are unable to experience this benevolent state, and that is why we call it evil. In reality, there is no evil, no egoism, and nothing which would be against the Creator. The only problem is my inability to recognize and sense the Creator, the Light, so I call it evil.

My egoism involves the same very properties in my feelings and mind which do not allow me to perceive goodness present in my state. I constantly want to come to adherence with the Creator, but I can’t due to my undeveloped feelings and thoughts which are precisely what I call evil, the ego.

This first stage, where I get to know my evil and rise above it, is regarded as the transformation “to bestow in order to bestow,” the degree of Bina. It is my evil that aids me in ascending.

When I finally rise above it, I begin to transform evil into good, that is, to “receive in order to bestow,” at which point I employ my ego in its reverse form, relative to the one that had previously unfolded in me. This means that I have risen over the “angel of death,” freed myself from it, and am now learning absolute love, the degree of Keter (Crown).

Thus, the stages of my development are the levels of revelation. First, I reveal my evil, or the properties that don’t let me feel love, and then I use it correctly. Hence, I am always grateful for the fact that it’s not evil, but a mere revelation of lack of feelings and understanding in my mind and heart, which does not allow me to attain good in its perfection.

Evil just helps me see where I lack receptivity, oneness, and similarity to the Light. Therefore, I always view the unfolding of evil as discovering an ailment, a symptom, which shows where I need to be reformed in order to ascend along all the 125 rungs and reach the state of perfection.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/13/2011 on Evil

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Question: To what extent do our thoughts, intentions, and ability to focus during the lesson depend on everyone who studies with us around the world? Is there such a global interconnection?

Answer: What does interdependence entail? If I view the entire reality as parts of my soul, then I am totally independent. These parts of mine awaken solely to the extent of my attitude toward them, my desire to awaken them.

I don’t focus on their external behavior, but rather awaken them from within, and at the same very level of inner connection, with that they awaken me in response. Everything is determined by my outlook on the world: Either I view it as a material reality with lots of corporeal bodies, or as the earthly desires of men, or as the body of my soul, its Partzuf (structure).

In the latter case, I see not the external images which seemingly exist in the corporeal world, but rather the parts of my soul, which I must transform. “I” is the focal point of my thought, intention. “I” is the intention which I must add to these desires and properties to aim them correctly.

What does it mean that I depend on and get awakened by the others? As I awaken them, I awaken myself in response. This awakening seemingly passes through the external system, while the system is mine nonetheless.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/8/2011, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar”

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