Question: Which requests reach the Creator?

Answer: First, we have to understand that if a request doesn’t come from a collective request, it is not accepted at all. People cry to the Creator from the bottom of their hearts when they break down and at the point of death, but nothing helps. Why? It is because their prayer doesn’t go through the filter, which is the only way a request is accepted. It is only through the system, only through the connection between us, no matter if it is good or bad, it is only with regard to the connection that the request is accepted.

Question: How can I tie my desire with someone else’s desire when I don’t feel it at all?

Answer: Try to feel or at least cry because you cannot feel. After all, you do understand that your single, individual desire cannot act in any way. If two arrive, that’s great! Well, what do you want? To establish a connection, to unite? You quarrel? But you are two; do you clarify the relationship between you? That’s good!”

Why is it time for correction now? It is because people begin to feel that there is something wrong in the connection between them. But was it okay before? Before, there was no connection. Today, we feel that there is something wrong and that we have to correct it; so the correction begins from our time onward.

If we don’t take into account the connection between us, no matter what it is like, then there is nothing with which we can come to the Creator. Personally, I cannot do anything; there is nothing to correct in me. The only thing we have to correct is the connection between me and others.

Question: You told us once about the system that converts an unreal request into a real one. Did you refer to the request of the individual or of the general?

Answer: There is no request of the individual! The fact that I cry out by myself doesn’t mean that my request is individual. The main thing is what I cry about. This is what determines whether my prayer is a prayer of many or not.

People think that if a Minyan (ten men) gathers, it is a prayer. It can be one person who asks for connection, for the correction of the system, and then it called “a prayer of many.”

So, when we approach the study, it is very important to come with the right request. Otherwise, the study distances us, and, instead of the elixir of life, it becomes the potion of death. We see that people run away, escape, and fall. Why does that happen? It is because the same Light that operates in the wrong way brings you darkness, which means that it leads you to the goal through the long path.
[82775]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/12/12, The Zohar

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 32: And when one is rewarded with being entirely in the will to bestow and not at all for oneself, he will be rewarded with obtaining equivalence of form with his Upper NRNHY, which extend from one’s origin in Ein Sof in the first state, through the pure ABYA, and will immediately extend and clothe him in a gradual manner.

We have a very big desire to receive that grows as we climb the levels of correction. This process begins from the moment we yearn for connection.

The desire is revealed gradually. First we correct it on the level of “to bestow in order to bestow,” which in Kabbalistic terms is called Hafetz Hesed, the level of Bina, Hassadim. Then we correct the desire on the level of “to receive in order to bestow,” which is already the level of Hochma.

On the level of Bina, all our evil inclination seems to be corrected, at least since it doesn’t have the intention of “in order to receive.” Then the mistakes turn into merits and the evils turn into mistakes. We attain a kind of neutrality, now our desire to receive is no longer evil.

Then we continue our work until all the evil inclination becomes good, which means that it receives in order to bestow. This is the reason that Kabbalists sometimes divide the process into two, the correction of the desire and its final reformation to bestowal.

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Question: If a person has taken our courses, but is still against connection, can we call it the “evil inclination?”

Answer: No. If after taking a couple of courses I still don’t understand that the rejection I feel towards the group is evil, if I accept this rejection, I have not revealed the evil inclination inside me.

The whole point is seeing the evil inclination in this negative desire. I have to determine this by myself and not just hear about it from someone. I have to feel that this attribute harms me as it doesn’t allow me to enter spirituality and attain the goal. It is this attribute that stands in my way and if I don’t overcome it, if I don’t tie myself to the group, I have no chance.

I have to actually see that the evil inclination blocks my way. It seems to allow me to form a connection but the next moment it detaches me from my friends. Eventually, except for very short moments, I am constantly detached from the group.

Do I perceive that as evil the way I should? After all, it has to come to a level that I will not be able to stand my ego and will do everything in my power to get rid if it: “My death is better than my life. I have to kill it, since it is my enemy.” We must feel that it is the only enemy we have, hiding inside, like a cancerous tumor, like a snake that I must remove.

But if I don’t feel that, I haven’t revealed the evil inclination yet. So I don’t need the Torah as a “spice” yet, which means as a method of correction. It is only by revealing the tyranny of the evil that I look for a solution. I am totally contaminated, it is absorbed inside me and it is impossible to escape it. So what should I do?

By having no choice and feeling helpless, I begin to realize that there is a force that can help me, which is the Light. It is no longer an abstract concept. I feel that it exists and look for an opportunity to demand it; I look for the inner feeling that will enable me to draw it so that it will free me from the evil.

All this comes only when we begin the practical work of connection…
[82577]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/10/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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From an article by Rabash: “The old’s contradiction—a construction, youth’s construction—a contradiction.” “The old” are those who are used to God’s work, “Youth” are those who are just starting their work. A contradiction is a descent or a fall, which means that first there was an ascent in the work that is considered a construction, which means that they considered the ascents, but the contradiction is when they felt a fall, which comes from the concealment of the Creator, which means that the Creator conceals Himself from them, and this is called a contradiction. The old’s contradiction is when they say that the Creator sent them the concealment, so it turns out that they are already in construction, since they believe that the Creator is taking care of them and from this they receive livelihood.

“The old” are those who are already accustomed to the spiritual work, and so they know how to interpret every state, how to approach it and how to make it beneficial. So even their “contradiction” is construction. This is because they don’t forget and hold on to the intention that everything comes from the Creator, even the descent. So it is during the descents, by remaining loyal, by holding on to their faith, to the intention of in order to bestow even during the descents, that by that they construct the ascents. The descent itself turns into an ascent.

The ascent does not come after the descent, but it is the same decent if a person attributes it to the Creator, to the goal of creation, and understands that he feels it in desires to receive and adds the right intention to it: The descent itself becomes an ascent.

A person immediately rises by the descent that is felt in the egoistic desire, by the revelation of the corrupt vessel. Then he stops moving up and down on a wave of ascents and descents. He is always happy about the descents, because it isn’t after they are over, but while still in them, that he adheres to the Creator. So the contradiction that old men feel goes to their construction, since from it they build an even more intense adhesion with the Creator.

The “youth” are those who have no power yet, not enough support from the environment that could stabilize them that enables the turning of the descent into ascent, into adhesion. So they even begin to use their ascents egoistically and enjoy the good feeling, thus forgetting the intention. Then the ascent turns into a descent, and the construction turns into destruction. The state is determined by a person’s intention.
[82404]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/8/12

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Question: At the convention, you said that our problem is that we cannot tie all our intentions together yet: me, who has to be corrected, the friends, the Creator, and the world. What are the stops on the way to the one unified intention that combines all the elements?

Answer: We have to constantly clarify things internally as to what we have to think about and thus summon the Light that Reforms. It is written: “It is better to sit and do nothing,” since if you don’t know what to do, you can even cause more harm. It is like giving a small child power, or a person who doesn’t know what he is doing; he can only cause harm.

So, on one hand, it is concealed from us so that we don’t harm ourselves and others. On the other hand, how can we come close to the right action? It turns out that we constantly need to think about the right intention and only to that extent will we be able to come closer to the Light. There are Masachim (screens) that conceal the Light from us only because our desires are incorrect. The moment our desire comes close to the right state, these Masachim disappear.

So every person must constantly check himself, and decide how he should really invest his powers. Life helps us, the general despair, the aimlessness, the confusion, and the state the world is in now all help us. It isn’t that we are not being ridiculed anymore, as they used to do about a decade or two ago, and in every generation in the past ages, we have reached a point now where there is no choice. So we have to show not only to ourselves, but to the world, what we should all yearn for, what we should reach, what intent while reading The Zohar.
[82382]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/8/12, The Zohar

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Question: As it happened that during the last congress in the North, our group divided into two parts: The first one, 10 people, isolated themselves from the world on the first floor of the center and completely simulated the conditions of the friends at the convention in Israel; the second one, 20-30 people who due to various reasons could attend but only participate part of the time, were in another room.

I was among the isolated 10, and I could not concentrate on anything but one thought: “How could it happen that we divided into two parts?” But I could not pluck up the courage to raise this issue with the other 9 people. This question haunts me; what should I do? Could I raise it for discussion or would it be against the unity of the group, even in this decision to be divided into two parts during the convention? I just think that the spiritual committee should insist that the group stays together no matter under what conditions.

Answer: Contradictions exist until the final correction everywhere and especially in Kabbalah, but in spirituality, opposite things are united in a common intention; they co-exist although they are separated by the law of equivalence of form. So, we need to get used to the fact that we can be different, but together; moreover, we should not strive to put everyone and everything at the same level. Equal does not mean the same, but equal in the intention and at different levels.

We are all different and no one forces us to be the same, but just to aspire for the same goal. Also, everyone strives for the goal in various ways. We are different, like the cells of one body; in our intention to the common Creator, the Creator unites us.

Stay as an example to follow, and those who cannot, due to objective reasons, are not worse than you, but will be in the other sub-group at the congress; similarly, the body has organs that are different in their importance organs, but they belong to one body.

The equality of friends does not mean sameness!

Ask, we will find out.
[82417]

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Each of us contains 613 different desires, relating to our connection with one another, which we have to correct. First of all, I have to see that they are all egoistic and that I want to use the neighbor and the Creator.

This direction, “Israel, Torah, and the Creator,” meaning from love for the creatures to love for the Creator, first works in the opposite form: for the sake of using the Creator and the creatures for one’s own benefit. First we have to discern precisely this fact, and it becomes revealed on the condition that both the creatures and the Creator are used correctly.

At the first stage, wishing to achieve the general connection with the entire universe, through the creatures to the Creator, we discover our transgressions and mistakes, and that is how we reveal the evil inclination. This does not happen all at once. As one advances, a small part of egoism is continually revealed. We demand its correction, and in the Light of correction we reveal a greater part of egoism, and then again ask for it to be corrected.

Light comes from the Creator through the group, illuminating and correcting the evil that we discover, and as a result we discover new, stronger, harsher waves of egoism within us. That is how we advance from small mistakes to more serious ones, and then from small transgressions to bigger ones, gradually revealing and correcting ourselves.

But we always aspire to love, unification, the unity of Israel, Torah, and the Creator into one whole. We wish for the Creator to become holy, “separate,” special, meaning for the quality of bestowal to always be the greatest value for us. That is how progress occurs.

And the most important aspect of this work is to understand that all corrections are concentrated outside of a person. His spiritual advancement occurs outside of him. And outside of him there is only the Shechina and the Creator that fills it.

A person imagines that there is an entire world around him: still, vegetative, animate, and human, but all of that is just his illusion, his imagination. In reality, none of this exists. When a person begins to reveal the true reality, he discovers that all of it is devoid of the spirit of life, and it is enlivened only by the upper force of the Creator, who is standing behind all of these images and shadows. By themselves they are just garments, wrappers, not having inner fulfillment.

Let us hope that we will reveal this truth quickly and will begin truly working with the Creator through these garments.
[82496]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/9/12, Writings of Rabash

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Our sensitivity to the revelation of the Creator depends on our yearning for the revelation of His greatness. It is like raising the sensitivity of a detector 10 times more, 100 times more, 1,000 times more, 10,000 times more.

I tune the detector by raising its level of sensitivity, and thus it helps me discover what I was looking for. Raising the sensitivity means raising the importance of such a phenomenon compared to other phenomena.

Suppose I am in a certain space where different phenomena take place: electric fields and magnetic fields, and many radio and television waves going through it in different frequencies. I tune myself to a special phenomenon and my sensitivity rises specifically to that. I focus on it and choose it out of all the other processes.

Our world is full of different noises in different frequencies. Suppose I want to know what is being said on a certain cell phone, I have to tune my detector specifically to that frequency. In the same way, I have to focus all my attention of the greatness and the importance of the Creator and raise my sensitivity to that as much as I can. Being persistent at that allows me to discover the phenomenon called the Creator, which is the general force active in the world, the “general frequency.”

It is like a basic carrier frequency or stem cells, which are the basic phenomena in our world. I have to discover the force that is at the basis of all of reality.

When we speak about greatness, importance, and respect, we want to express our increased sensitivity to this phenomenon specifically, and thus we reveal it. So a person who tries to feel that there is none else besides Him, the good and benevolent Creator acting behind the scenes and generally hiding behind the friends and the group, this person will constantly raise the sensitivity of his detector, of his soul, and will advance that way.

This is because the soul is the tool for the revelation of the Creator
[82136]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/3/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: You always guide us during the conventions, leading us from one lesson to the next.

Answer: I cannot say anything about that in advance. I don’t know how things will work out before I see you in the convention. You will summon my attitude towards you according to the state you will be in.

In bestowal everything depends on the one who receives and nothing is predictable. I am a power supplier—you will receive bestowal according to your connection to me.

So the matter is not in the subject of the lectures and the workshops, but in the preparation. Your intensive collective preparation will generate from me everything that you need in the right order. I listen to the friends, feel the general atmosphere among all those who connect to us, and this determines how the workshops will be managed.

Question: How can we raise the level of our question in order to add feeling to it? Before every convention there are the same questions to which we’ve already received the answers.

Answer: The questions may repeat, but we have to feel a new depth in them. The phrasing of the questions isn’t important, what is important is the depth. If a person is only superficially interested in how he should connect, it isn’t a question at all.

We have to be more serious since we are in a process of clarification, which means that we are constantly summarizing what we pick up along the way. So on the basis of all the clarifications and the conclusions, we reach new questions. Even though the questions may sound familiar, they are much deeper.

There isn’t much depth in your questions, there is no burning necessity for a new study of the unknown layers: “What should we do today in order to reach the unity that we have not reached yet? What do we lack? What should we add?” I must hear the echo of this search in your questions.

Question: How can we constantly soften our heart until the congress itself?

Answer: The key is the influence of the environment. It is this factor that influences the workshops. At first I don’t want to hear others, I look down upon them. I am not interested in what they say, who are they? Their words only irritate me.

But after a few minutes a new thought comes to me. Where do they come from? After all, they don’t appear out of the blue, this is how the Light operated, and there is nothing but the Light. Occasionally we manage to sink faster inwards and to feel ready for he influence of the Light. This is the whole essence of the workshop.

The “workshop” is our intensive, collective, integral group effort. This effort that is aimed at unity resembles the Light in its attributes and summons its influence upon us.

Of course it will eventually take us less time to reach unity in the workshops. Although it is impossible to explain, the desire already understands which internal movements are required in order to feel the excitement and the impression from the unity. Thus the workshop is our “tool,” our means.

But we can also do the same thing during the morning lesson. We need to do it every day for three hours!

Question: During the workshop we “rub” against one another and there is a kind of spark going through us. How can we reach the same feeling during the lesson?

Answer: During the lesson you don’t speak and don’t look at one another, which makes things more difficult for you. But you should overcome this. You should learn to feel one another without words and even independently of distance. The distances don’t exist, there are no walls, I only imagine all this; it is all depicted in my perception. So let’s make an effort and each one will feel the friends as his integral parts.

Don’t pin your hopes on me. I only operate the mechanism. It all depends on the connection among you. The upper Light is always ready and responds according to your desire. So there is no effort on my part: The moment there is a desire, I am ready to work on it. You are expecting something from me, and you need only one thing—to actually want connection. Thus, you will oblige me, you actually force me to act. Only your connection summons a real filling on my part.
[82051]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/12, “Questions About the Congress of Consolidation in the North of Israel”

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Question: If we imagine The Zohar as the center of the energy source, how does it permeate the soul?

Answer: There is no source that can come close to The Book of Zohar, which was written by ten Kabbalists, each of which was part of a group, part of the integrality that is the basis of nature. Nature is round, and with the help of the upper force a group representing the collective force of nature convened. And now this group, to attain all the laws, all of reality, all of Providence Above, and our work below, builds inside it the system of the Creator’s forces.

This group founded the whole system of correction. It did not exist before that. Before that there was the era of the forefathers, Abraham, Egypt, the first and second Temples—all this was a development from the top down. There was no real exile, since Egypt was only a prototype, the root of all the subsequent exiles. All this was preparation so that a group called “Israel” would be established, which is actually the same group of Rabbi Shimon. There are also the nations of the world, who are external to that group. The group of Israel is “shattered” and they go out and mix with the rest of humanity.

Therefore, there is no stronger connection than The Book of Zohar in which the authors expressed in writing everything they attained by building their internal system in spirituality, by building a hierarchy of all they did and attained, all the 125 degrees. This is all one system, and it makes no difference that I see the text and that I exist in my body. It is all a system of forces, there is no body here that understands or that doesn’t understand. These are forces that are now arranged as an integral system that can be corrected and brought to perfection.

So the composition that was created by the authors of The Zohar is not a book, but a system that was created by their work, and we want to be part of this system so that it will influence us. I want to enter its force field.

It is with this intention that we try to read The Book of Zohar. There is no other way to connect with that system, except for seeing the still letters by our corporeal sense of sight. But by that, with the help of the group and my efforts, I begin to develop my internal attitude, to enter the system of forces, by clarifying the force of reception, the force of bestowal, intentions, connection, rejection, repulsion, hatred, and love.
[81960]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/12, The Zohar

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