If the upper Providence were revealed to us, then all the people in the world would become absolute righteous. They would be forced to obey the law of bestowal, which means that they would be compelled to be righteous and not from their freewill.

This is what would happen if the Creator were revealed to us. We are all waiting for Him to be revealed, but we would immediately lose our freewill. We would be like animals that blindly perform all of nature’s orders, just as we are forced to obey our egoistic nature now. We would carry out the orders of the nature of bestowal in the same way. If there is a law of nature, I obey it like a machine.

So we shouldn’t expect the Creator to be revealed to us before we are independent and have the force of the Masach (screen). Then we will be able to receive His revelation by the Returning Light, by rejecting the pleasure. Until then, the revelation will not be in our favor, of course, since it would force us to be become sacred animals. We have to rise above this level in order to become human beings.

Therefore, the Creator is revealed only to the extent that a person remains independent. Now we are managed by the egoistic intention and obey our ego. Then the point in the heart awakens in us, and we begin to struggle against that dominance, organizing a group that will be on the side of this new force, the point in the heart.

The struggle will succeed if I can diminish the external society, so that I can leave its dominance. Behind my ego there is all of society, and behind the spark of bestowal, the point in the heart, there is the Kabbalistic group. I have to raise and to increase the importance of the spark and of the group as much as I can, and on the other hand, to lower and reduce the influence of the ego and of the external society as much as possible.

To the extent that I do that, I increase the importance of bestowal in my eyes, and the Light influences me according to my efforts. This exertion operates like my prayer (MAN), and the Light that Reforms comes in response to it and changes me.

Eventually my new structure is formed: from Above I have a Masach and Returning Light that serves as my new vessel in which I bestow upon the Creator. From below, under the Masach, there is my restricted desire to receive, my ego.

To the extent that I have performed such a restriction, the Creator can already be revealed.
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From the 1^st part the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/29/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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Question: We often think about how to come to a state of prayer. On the other hand, a convention is such a joyful act…

Answer: A prayer should not be sad. A prayer is an expectation of correction. Should I cry, kneel and beat my head against a wall? There is nothing like this.

A prayer is a feeling in the heart. I want my heart to be corrected. I prepare it so that it goes through changes, stops being egoistic, stops thinking about itself.

Once the heart stops thinking about itself, I immediately begin to feel the upper world. This is what I want! This is called a prayer! Nothing else.

Question: But we are saying that we need to come to a state of despair, powerlessness, some very difficult feeling, but a convention symbolizes a state of joy, unity. How can I put this into one?

Answer: It is also very simple.

Despair must be joyful. That is, I despaired of my own abilities—look, what I have accomplished! I no longer have hope for myself.

Baal HaSulam writes that there is no more joyous moment in a person’s life when he feels that in no way he can help himself, and nothing will help him but only a miracle from Above, this is when it happens. There is no happier moment than the feeling that only this will save him. What could be better?
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From a Virtual Lesson 11/25/12

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Question: Should we imagine the future state of the world group as an ascent above all contradictions, or as a state of harmony and wellbeing?

Answer: There will be no harmony!

Egoism will never get a single fulfillment. Malchut of the World of Infinity will remain dark and empty. Tzimtzum Aleph (the first restriction) doesn’t disappear, change, or return; it remains. Above this black emptiness, a new Kli, a new vessel, a new desire, is formed that functions only for bestowal. I never will receive any fulfillment with my egoistic desires. They all will remain empty and dark, and I will receive fulfillment above them in the quality of bestowal.

This is why our game differs from all other methods. Right now, we are playing the future world. Like the quote of Kozma Prutkov, “If you want to be happy, be so,” and do it all now.

Draw the picture of the upper world, and be in it. When you imagine everything this way, which is called “faith above reason,” you begin to need it to actualize. This action constitutes a prayer, when you wish for what you imagine to become reality, and, then, it happens.
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From a Virtual Lesson 11/11/12

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Question: Our friend who was in New York during the hurricane told us that never before was there an atmosphere in the New York group such as during this difficult time, how they are all focused on studying and on close relations.

Answer: We have to thank the Creator for the hurricane!

But is this what we need? All a smart person needs is a small needle prick and he’s ready to be good. However, the stubborn ones need serious blows, and this is called “I hardened Pharaoh’s heart.” Everything depends on the person.

I hope that with the help of our method of developing connection, our public relations in the Internet, and all that we’ve reached, we’ll be able to quickly and painlessly explain to people and to ourselves that all these blows simply disappear if we begin to look at them as a means for an ascent.

Baal HaSulam writes in one of his letters that all of this is an illusion. Just look at these blows from aside, as a reason to appeal to the Creator, and they will disappear instantly. Appeal to the Creator and the problems are gone.

We must understand that in our world there’s nothing that really exists. All we see is being drawn in our organs of perception. All of this will disappear as soon as we reformat our organs of perception toward the Creator.

Therefore, let’s act more rationally and give up our old paradigms because they’ve outlived themselves.
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From the Virtual Lesson 11/11/12

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Question: What is a prayer?

Answer: A prayer is called work in the heart. But why is it work? Don’t I know what I want? No. I don’t know what I want, and I don’t know what to want—this is all our work—to stabilize ourselves correctly.

But if this is a deficiency, what can I do? A baby cries not knowing the reason why, he simply feels bad. A person who has revealed different Reshimot (reminiscences), has felt the taste of receiving and bestowal and already knows what makes him feel bad and what makes him feel good, so he can point at a specific deficiency. It isn’t just a deficiency, not in form, but a deficiency in which there are different depictions and discernments.

So what do we have to do? Not just to cry out like a baby, but to find out what it is exactly that you want. Suppose I want to love a friend whom I don’t love. I have to feel a deficiency for that. It says: “Make your desire like his.” But how can I do that if I don’t have any desire for it?

Perform different actions and by them you will see to what extent you don’t want it. But by performing these actions, you have invested your powers and these powers bring you sorrow that you don’t want the things you should actually want.

I want to buy a house, for example, but in order to do that I have to exert myself, to go to work, and to trouble myself. I have no power to do that and no desire, but I do want to buy a house. This is wrong. A person should process his desire so that the desire will be connected to the goal.

So what is a prayer? A prayer is not just a request that I have now, it is a series of actions in which I stabilize the request I will later live by. Each time I process and correct my deficiency to a greater degree so that my prayer will be processed as correctly as possible, more accurately and more sharply.

A prayer is called Malchut, a deficiency, and I must constantly worry about it. There is nothing else I should worry about, but the right deficiency. So it says: “If only he prayed all day long.” It isn’t the same prayer as a person who falls to the ground or reads from the Siddur (prayer book). No. A prayer is when I clarify internally, as it says about Malchut: “I am a prayer.” This means that a person says, “This is my prayer, this is my deficiency!” And it isn’t that it is written somewhere or something that I have heard or have been taught.

So “I am a prayer” means to cleanse myself of different external impressions and to clarify internally my true deficiency, my “self.” This is Malchut. To such a prayer, a person receives an answer from Above, since it is a clarified deficiency.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/19/12, The Zohar

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Rabash. “Love of Others”: I look at a small point called the love of others and I think about it: What can I do in order to help the society. It’s because when I look at the society, I see the sufferings of the individual, illness and pain and also the general sufferings, which means wars among the nations. There is nothing I can give other than a prayer and this is called “feeling sorry for the public.”

People in our world understand that when times are hard we usually help one another in different ways. We host people who have to leave their homes; we send help and essential products in order to ease the life of people who find themselves in extreme conditions. Everyone understands that we have to feed those who are in trouble and to give them a place to sleep and to support them. That’s the way it is in every culture throughout history, among all the nations.

Kabbalists have a different approach to this. This doesn’t mean that they disqualify the ordinary mutual help. We see that throughout history, even from the time of Abraham and the other forefathers that they invited guests and how important the idea of hospitality was for them, both in the corporeal and in the spiritual sense.

But the question is what should we do if we are under a constant threat, like we feel these days, and on the whole throughout history. If we think logically it turns out that there is no chance that Israel can succeed here, surrounded by enemies whose only desire is to erase us from the surface of the earth.

How can we, despite all this, go on living on this land under this constant threat, till when? From a logical perspective it is impossible and perhaps we should build our state somewhere else, like it was once suggested in Uganda?

But the only thing that can help us is what Kabbalists tell us about the place from which the world develops and about the spiritual message, about the upper force that is connected to us and that is with us. We work in connection with it, in one direction and can thus change our fate.

First we should understand that everything that is happening was given to us as assistance. Then it will be clear that we have to work in this place and only here, under these special conditions can we advance and fulfill the goal of creation. It isn’t by chance that we are in such a hostile environment, but according to a certain goal according to the upper plan.

The small point of love of others Rabash speaks about is the spark in us. We have to arrange this spark, to reinforce it, to support it, and to aim at attaining our source, our root. Thus we will be able to fulfill the thought of creation for all the nations.

So our role, with all the difficult conditions that the upper force presents us with, is to respond correctly, inclined to connection, unity, and mutual guarantee,until we attain the state of “love thy friend as thyself.” Eventually the whole world will join this love as it says “and all the nations shall flow to Him,” and by that we will fulfill the thought of creation.

All this is attained by prayer, which means by our work in the heart.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/12

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Egoism pressures us, holding us in its slavery and not letting us rest. Every moment we continue doing selfish calculations in its favor with no end to it. How can we escape from this slavery? By all means of establishing ourselves stronger in this demand, that we are in the group, study, and participate in events, dissemination, workshops, gathering of friends, and festive meals only to obtain the force of bestowal. This is called faith.

A person experiences the suffering of Job which is the symbol of unbearable human suffering, revealing all of his egoistic nature to the deepest level and discovering that he can do nothing with it. No matter how much he checks himself, he won’t find a single grain that will bring forth something good. This is called the suffering of Job that can’t be overcome and somehow healed because in fact it’s impossible to find any clue in our nature from which correction could begin. That is, we have no power by means of which it would be possible to perform the actions of bestowal.

But it’s said that the Creator created the evil inclination and the Torah as a means to correct it. That is, there is a remedy: the upper force, the Reforming Light that comes to a person on condition that he requires correction. All that we need is to discover our plea, and then the Light will affect us.

A plea is a desire, the need to be corrected. It’s not just an egoistic desire to enjoy, but a regret that one was born an egoist. This requires preparatory work carried on from generation to generation, the influence of the environment, of the Surrounding Light that reaches a person even unconsciously and without his knowledge.

Even without studying Kabbalah, a person begins to get to know his evil. As in our current state of crisis, humanity is about to do this in order to discover that we are all egoists, and there’s no way out. Everything is heading towards this, and we’ll just devour each other, and will it be the end of civilization on the earth? What are we to do?

There’s a general and personal preparation period in which a person’s evil nature is slightly revealed. He feels that there’s no escape, and it needs to be corrected. And if the point in the heart awakens in him, he begins his correction. But those in whom the point in the heart is not awakened, they feel the true suffering of Job, with no hope to change themselves. Any actions that seem altruistic to us, any charity and noble impulses will nonetheless turn out egoistic in the end. Becoming more aware, a person begins to understand that throughout everything, egoism is manifested, acting only for its benefit. No matter how nice charitable organizations and actions look, they do not bring any correction.

The world is built in such a way that if we act according to the law of the correction of nature with the help of the Reforming Light, then we correct it. And if we don’t follow this law, all our best actions are turned into harmful ones. And with these best intentions, we cause the most damage, not bringing any good. That’s why Rabash writes that when he looks at all the suffering that the world experiences, he has nothing to help other than to pray for their correction.
[93322]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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When a person carries out spiritual work, he usually doesn’t feel that he is really performing it, that he is investing efforts. They somehow get lost, as if into space, into a hole, which afterwards slowly, slowly becomes filled. A person doesn’t see it, and only when his efforts reach the edge of the hole, ready to spill outwards, then he begins to feel the results of his work. Thus in filling this space, mutual support is very important.

Baal HaSulam gives a very good example, when a person enters the treasury of the King and gradually takes out a certain amount of coins, as much as they give him, and then the guards knock them from his hands, and then again he enters and again they spill them, etc. This means that constant and most serious efforts are required.

A person is not able to work in this way. He needs to see results; either the troubles push him from behind or some kind of intentions pull him, some worthy cause. And when none of this exists, he finds himself as if in space, he makes movements, but there’s no energy. And here the group needs to give him this energy. Also it isn’t important if it was correct or not correct, or if it was real; the important thing is that he will receive inspiration.

Thus the main thing in our work is to constantly discover the greatness and to show to the others that you are already there.

When a person sees that others have some kind of intention, suddenly think, suddenly show him that they exist in inner tension, then he is also forced to wake up: “What is happening with me? Where am I?” In this way he returns to the intention. Gradually these intentions connect together and give their influence, the results. Thus, there is no need to forget this, but from necessity to see it.

In this sense, women can do even more than men, since from the beginning, from their nature, they were created in order to create desire and in that to push the men to implement it. Thus they need to work together and not to forget that during all our activities.

It doesn’t matter what we do. We can add our intention to everything.
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From a Meal at the Georgia Convention 11/7/12

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Rabash, Letter 34: As it is said, “And the Lord shall be unto you an everlasting light.” When? When you are all one society, as it is written, “live every one of you this day.”

Usually, if someone takes a pile of branches, can he break them all at once? But if taken one at a time, even a baby can break them. Similarly, you find that Israel will not be redeemed until they are all one society, as it is said, “In those days and at that time, says the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the sons of Judah together.” Thus, when they are united, they receive the face of Divinity.

I presented the words of the Midrash so that you don’t think that the issue of a group, which is love of friends, relates to Hassidism. Rather, it is the teaching of our sages, who saw how necessary was the uniting of hearts into a single group for the reception of the face of Divinity.

We can only feel the connection with the Light from a whole and perfect vessel; a vessel in which all the desires in order to receive are covered by a Masach (screen), which turns them to in order to bestow. This is possible only when there is connection, since to whom can I express my intention to bestow? Only towards others! So by connection in our desires and intentions in the heart and mind, we reconstruct the shattered vessel and by that get closer to the Light, until eventually it can illuminate for us.

If in the meantime, we only try to get closer to one another, we summon upon ourselves an illumination from a distance, which is called the Surrounding Light. This is the law we know from the wisdom of Kabbalah, which is the law of all of reality, the law of nature.

So the condition for receiving help from Above for the revelation of the Light is our connection. If we want to improve our condition, there are no other methods but that. There is no point in looking for anything else and just wasting our efforts. We must only yearn for connection by which we will evoke and draw the Light that Reforms us.

If we don’t act towards connection, then nothing good will come out of our efforts. So in the very difficult and tense situation the people of Israel find themselves in today, we should try to connect as hard as we can and to attain unity. It’s through this that we bring the Light closer to us, and bring it closer to everyone. Thus we advance to a better state in a better way, through the Light.

We should do that before the sufferings reach us and force us to connect by putting pressure on us. We should always have the inclination to connect out of our goodwill and not because we are forced to do it. This is the difference between the “path of the Light” (hastening time) and the “path of suffering,” the natural process of developing (in its time).

Let’s try to understand that the connection summons the influence of the good force upon us and explain this to everyone. The more people will join this connection and unity, by feeling this condition and understanding that the more we disseminate and publicize it by every available channel, by Internet and TV, the more people hear about it and incorporate in it, the closer we will be to the good Light. The Light is the only thing that operates. It’s a waste of energy to think that there are other actions that can improve our situation except for connection and unity.
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From the Preparation the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/16/12

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Question: What kind of changes should take place in me in order to draw the Light that Reforms? What can I do in order to draw this Light?

Answer: This is exactly what I have to find out, that’s the whole point. From now until the end of correction I only need the Light that Reforms. This is the Light that fills my soul, that is incorporated in all the other souls, as all the differences between the souls disappear and the Light of Ein Sof (Infinity) fills everyone 620 times more than in the initial state. This is where the Light that Reforms comes from, exactly like every MAN (prayer) rises to Ein Sof, and in response MAD (a response) comes down from there.

So all along the way, from now until the end of correction, I have to worry about one thing only, the maximum Light that Reforms that I can draw. It is as if I am sunbathing and calculating: Which way should I turn, how long should I lie in a certain position, at what time, etc.? This is how I should clarify my internal movements: How should I operate in my desires in working with the group, with individual friends, with the teacher, with the study, at home, everywhere.

In everything that I am, I have to clarify how I can make the most of my different actions 24 hours a day, so that each time the Light will operate on me most efficiently. There are no other worries except for this worry. What else is there in life? After all, everything depends on the Light, including my corporeal life.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/14/12, The Zohar

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