Question: For quite some time now during The Zohar lesson I feel as if I am trying to find the right wave of a radio station, but I only hear noises. We constantly speak about the fact that while reading The Book of Zohar we should tune ourselves to one goal or another, and I can’t do that at all…am I missing something by that or should I just keep on going and it will come eventually?

Answer: The thing is that if we are talking about receiving a wave and not about the Reforming Light, then among all the noises I should find the exact frequency in which I will hear the silence; the silence is what I need to hear. This is the exact frequency of the station. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah this accurate direction indicates that I am getting ready to receive the Inner Light.

Here, however, we are talking about the Surrounding Light, about the Reforming Light, which you don’t recognize when it comes to you. You aren’t working here in order to receive some wisdom, to receive some “station” and to hear something new.

You are here in order to activate the maximum desire, and in it you will receive the power to overcome, not knowledge. After all, you are not looking for knowledge here, but for the desire to bestow, to annul yourself before the Upper, to adhere to Him, to His attribute of bestow, to the power of bestowal, to reach self sacrifice, and the ability to actually incorporate in the group in order to receive from it the power to find this upper spiritual mechanism there.

You are not tuning yourself to the “station” of wisdom. You don’t wait to be shown something like on a TV screen. This isn’t the channel through which the Reforming Light comes. It comes to the place in which you yearn for bestowal most and are ready to annul yourself and develop your connection with others. This is the result of the Reforming Light, which we should expect.

I don’t aspire to understand and to feel the material we study at all. I yearn to understand and feel the actions of bestowal themselves. After all, “to know the material studied,” as Baal HaSulam says in part 155, of the “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” means to know the Upper, and not to acquire knowledge. Knowledge in spirituality is the knowledge of bestowal, and it is in the Light that I study how the spiritual tool works. I won’t see it if I don’t have this approach.

After all, what does the Reforming Light bring us? It allows us to relate to the hidden world in which we dwell through the attribute of bestowal. When I begin to relate to the world using the attribute of bestowal, the world becomes transparent and through it I see the networks of connection. It is about these networks that I study, the networks in which I am incorporated, in which I begin to feel like a spider in a web.

When I feel the whole system of connection, I begin to correct it, to pull the strings that are drawn from me and to see upon what I bestow. Eventually, this is our whole study: about how I move the whole system and how with its help I correct my actions and work for this system, and how this whole system moves until the Creator, the general force, is revealed.

This is why I don’t look for the “station” that should be revealed by The Book of Zohar. But the “static” will gradually bring you to search for another “station,” and you will find it.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/11/12, The Zohar

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Question: This weekend we will hold a “quiet Saturday.” What should this silence be?

Answer: This custom of being silent came into the world from none other than Kabbalists. It is used as an exercise in various practices which don’t relate to our path, and generally, in the field of psychology.

When a person wants to understand something new, to focus on something new, he needs solitude. He can run away from everyone to someplace, which would be physical solitude. Or he can find solitude within, where I find a certain space inside and hide there from others’ eyes, although physically I am surrounded by many people. This relates to all levels of a person.

So, we want to carry out a similar exercise, a “silent pledge” where we refrain from speaking. There are special periods when people study the Torah more, delve deeper into the material, observe various fasts. These methods pull a person out of the usual order, the routine, and help him look at the world and himself slightly differently. They allow him to concentrate or focus inside.

“A quiet Saturday” does not mean that no one opens their mouths. But when we do talk, we talk only about the study and what it contains. And we only talk inasmuch as it is necessary. If there is no need, then we think about the same questions instead of talking about them. After all, words lay bare a person’s soul, revealing the innermost secrets of his heart. And therefore, one shouldn’t talk unless it is for the sake of correction.

That is how we will hold this Saturday. All lessons and meals will take place by the regular schedule, and every person will limit himself as much as he can, trying not to speak but only to think.

Concentration in thought, inner focus has a much greater effect in the world than words. After all, thought is a much higher force than speech. This is the highest force in a person, and therefore it is the most effective in the general system of reality. It is precisely the beginning of the chain, “thought, speech, action”.

Therefore, we hope that by cutting conversations down to the minimum, we will rise to a higher level of bestowal.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/11/12, “The Freedom”

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Our evolution to become “human,” to resemble the Creator, takes place because I change my corporeal mind and feelings into upper spiritual ones. I want to resemble the Creator, to use my mind and feeling to resemble the upper force. Thus I make contact with the upper force, receive an external force, and start developing myself.

This is not the way it was on the inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels within a person when I worked only with my mind and heart and nothing but that. But to the extent I yearn for my heart and mind to resemble the upper, I receive forces from Him and I can demand that He change my feelings and mind.

This means that I don’t acquire life experience on this world’s level; I don’t change my desire by using my mind in order to sooner or later gain as the wise do in this world. Actually, I totally change the way I work.

I leave my beastly senses and mind at the level of basic necessity in order to provide me with the basic necessities in life and not more than that, and I start to develop a spiritual mind and feeling inside me. Spirituality means for the benefit of others.

Of course, this is totally different from what I had before and I have to start rising above my old nature. Starting from this decision onwards, I will demand for the upper force to change me.

Before, I didn’t turn to It and didn’t feel anything. But in order to enable me to turn to the upper force, there are people in this world who are in contact with It. They processed and changed their desires, thoughts, and mind, and wrote about the process they underwent thanks to the upper Light.

I read about the process in which the influence of the Light transformed them and I want the same to happen to me. I want to be incorporated in this process, in this action, and to adhere to their story. They tell me about their feelings, about how it works, and about the changes that took place in them. I also want to experience these actions. To the extent that I wish to undergo these changes, I evoke the Light that begins to influence me.

The action of the Light is revealed in the connection with others. Until now I developed my own desire to receive and the mind that helped me use others, but now I have to develop above that in order to connect with others. Only my connection with others will reveal the Light. On the other hand, when the Light is revealed, it will enable me to connect with others.

While reading the book, I only need to acquire a desire so that I will understand and feel that it talks about connection. When the Light is revealed, it is revealed in exactly the same way it is described in the book and will fulfill the connection among us. The book only tells us about this connection and nothing but that.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/6/12, The Zohar

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In order to figure anything out, one must either start from the very beginning or the end – from the beginning of creation or from its final goal. After all, what’s in the middle belongs to our work, free choice. By analyzing the beginning and the end, we have to understand what we have to do in the middle.

The difference between the beginning and end of the path lies in acquiring the intention of bestowal. Nothing but this changes in reality. By changing the intention, we attain our difference from the Creator and correct it. Therefore, it is clear that our task lies only in attaining this proper intention.

Every action consists of thought, speech, and action. Thought is the plan preceding everything, which initially includes the result of the action. And in the middle, between the plan and the execution, there is speech, meaning discernment.

And in order to make the proper discernment, there must be concentration. This is why Kabbalists have a custom of being silent, which is also done in this world. When a person is about to undergo an important event and he wants to understand how to do it, he focuses on it, requiring silence, and trying to close himself off so he won’t be bothered by external conversations. He intensely prepares to carry out the action correctly.

That is why we want to spend the weekend in silence, in quiet, and think about how we can attain the right action. Instead of talking, we will make discernments in silence.
[65931]
From the preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/10/12

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Everything depends on intention. This is like the valve in the internal combustion engine, which opens if I have the right intention. And as soon as the intention is gone, the valve closes. That is how I work all the time: I open the valve and close it. Let us hope that we will be able to start up this engine.

The size of the intention is determined by which desires it can rule over. Maybe my intention is only enough for the still level of my desires, or for the vegetative or animate, or for the human level. And clearly, the strongest, most efficient and powerful intentions also influence the small, lower desires.

Therefore, the most important thing for us is to think about group unity, mutual guarantee, because by virtue of that we can undoubtedly rule over all the other, lower desires we have. That is why the condition of mutual guarantee is so necessary.

I think that the friends are also outside of me, and the whole world, all of humanity, and the Creator are also outside of me. But I have to try to attach all of that to me in mutual guarantee, in the right connection, mutual dependence so these desires would unite: me and the Creator inside of me, and all the external systems will also become mine. I should not see anything else besides this, but just the image of one person, who I assemble and take care of.

And if I come out of this inner perception and speak to other people, I live in this world, so naturally, there is a collision between this inner perception and the external world, which appears to me in my senses. But I will have to accept this duality for now, which is no more than a psychological problem. And gradually, I will begin to see a more internal picture.

It’s similar to how there is the perception of an adult and of a child. A child sees only the external side, whereas an adult understands things deeper and sees the inner reasons for what is happening. Even though this is aimed in one direction, but just penetrates deeper into matter since both our intentions and external behavior are egoistic.

However, by developing a habit and making efforts, we can attain a new, true perception of reality.

Therefore, all discernments of intentions, my entire work is to try to change my vision by means of this inner perception, the inner wisdom called the science of Kabbalah, the inner part of the Torah. Then I will see the whole world as one organism in which everything belongs to me and there is nothing besides me.

Let us try to reach this sensation, and especially while reading The Book of Zohar.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/10/12, The Zohar

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When we read The Book of Zohar, we must clarify to ourselves in every way we can and especially in our thought and intentions that we are now entering a room where we can ask and receive if the request is the right one. A person should feel that he is given a chance to enter and say one sentence only. If you can’t awaken whoever is in the room upon whom your destiny depends, you will miss that chance and will not get another chance again. If a person feels this way, even if he gets more chances, it can help him.

So we must know:

1. All the changes that we must first desire are changes for bestowal and love of others and from that to the love of the Creator.
2. These changes are fulfilled in us only by the upper force that can influence us and perform the changes only if we want them and only as much as we can want the level above us.

We don’t understand these changes yet, and we don’t fully want them because these changes are towards bestowal and love of others. However, I try as hard as I can. I must believe that if my request is the right one, these changes will immediately take place in me.

So we have to imagine a picture and hold on to it while reading The Zohar while being in the request, in a prayer, in submission and yearning. Even if we haven’t reached the real request, but thanks to our yearning, like a prayer before a prayer, we hope that our request will assume the correct form. If I don’t know how to ask from Him, I ask Him to help me know how to ask.

I can’t tell Him: “I am asking but I don’t know how, so you do it!” That won’t work. He can’t do that, because my request must be correct. Otherwise I have nowhere to receive the correction. This means that I can’t beg with half a request so that He will correct me according to this half request. I can ask Him to correct my half request and make it a full request and only then will the correction come. This is called “a prayer before a prayer.”

Suppose I come to my landlord and have to fill out a request form in which there are many items. Although I have good relations with this landlord and everything is open before me, he still tells me how to fill out the form. When I fill it out, I see the right attitude needed so that I can receive what I want, and he gives it to me.

First I thought that he was ready to give it to me from the bottom of his heart without any preconditions. But this isn’t the case. I have to clarify on this form why, what for, how much, when, how and from whom to receive, and so on. It must all be organized because this is how He correctly stabilizes the receiver in order to receive.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/4/12, The Zohar

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All the work is done by the Light, which returns to the source. But for this I first need to realize my evil, to feel that my desire, my qualities, my state cause me harm. I feel so bad that I am about to explode from this demand called MAN, a prayer.

However, this demand must be properly structured: Why do I wish to rid myself of my evil? Is it only to make myself feel good, or I am not able to tolerate this evil because it is not me that it harms, but others?

When I discover that my qualities are harming my neighbor and the Creator (and this can only be discovered through working in the group), I find myself before two uncompromising facts. On one hand, I value bestowal very much and wish to attain bestowal to the Creator through bestowing to the creatures, as it is written: “From love for the creatures to love for the Creator.” But on the other hand, I feel that I am very far from it, and this causes me suffering.

The reforming Light (the Light which returns to the source) gives me this realization, and this is called preparation, through which I realize my full measure and achieve an absolute prayer, desperation from my lack of the quality of bestowal, participation, mutual guarantee, and love for my neighbor, without which it is impossible to attain love for the Creator.

Man purposefully lacks the need for bestowal so he would feel that he needs it! Because only then will I have an opportunity to someday escape my egoistic desire, and when I attain bestowal, it will be the real bestowal.

But if I could see pleasure and a certain personal benefit in bestowal from the beginning, instead of being bestowal, this would be a concealed reception. This is why it is necessary to advance from the opposite by working in the group and preparing your desire. And until I feel that connection is more important than me and my friend is more important than me, I am not considered to have a desire to bestow and merge with the Creator. [Read more →]

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Question: Does our request to the Creator become stronger because we repeat it many times?

Answer: We advance only thanks to our requests. If we want to hasten our advancement, we have to learn to ask! Because there are no other actions in spirituality but to raise a request (raise MAN), all our actions are aimed at raising our first prayer to be accepted Above.

It’s like writing to some organization or to a girl you’re in love with. You send her letter after letter, until she finally answers you. But if she answered your 100th letter, you can’t say that she answered that letter necessarily. She answered all your 100 letters that influenced her! It doesn’t mean that you could have sent her this 100th note and that’s all.

This is how we develop. All these years you develop in order to finally raise MAN, a prayer, to stabilize the right request and only that. All the previous rehearsals were so that you would feel and discover exactly for what you should ask. The Light doesn’t need that, but you do! You’re doing that for yourself and by that you are creating your vessel, your desire, and then the Light will come and correct it.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/4/12, Shamati #240

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A prayer is a desire which appears in the heart at every moment. The main work lies in understanding your prayer: what I want, what I should want, and whether my prayer has reached the heights of the forefathers. In other words, I examine what my heart is feeling. After all, I am not its owner, and I must place severe guards and protectors over it to watch it and build a system to influence it.

Only my environment, my friends, rule over my heart. If I create this environment, it will be able to control it, but I can’t control it on my own. This is my only freedom of choice.

It follows that my prayer completely depends upon the environment, and it must reach my “half of the coin” with its help, a one hundred percent desire towards the Light, bestowal. For this reason, with a correct attitude towards the environment and a demand for them to convince my heart to have the desire to bestow (the importance of it), they’ll create the correct prayer in me. It’s in this way that I’ll complete my half of the coin and finish my work.

It turns out that instead of working on fulfillment and with my heart directly, I work with the environment, directing it so it’ll influence my heart and make it want the right kind of fulfillment, meaning to become filled with the quality to bestow, love for one’s neighbor. This is exactly what I am lacking now. When I complete this entire process, I find the “second half of the coin,” fulfillment.

And here “the common and the private are equal,” everyone is absolutely equal. After all, every element is equally important in an integrated analog system. No one is big or small, rich or poor; everyone must earn their half of the coin and reach a complete specific desire which is only attributed to them.

This is why no one is more special than others, greater or smaller in this kind of work, all friends are absolutely equal. After all, if the smallest correct desire is missing, we’ll not achieve the perfect half of the coin. And this is why it’s necessary to care for everyone.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/5/12, Writings of Rabash

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Israel (Yashar-El) is a person who has a point in the heart, pulling him toward the Creator and forcing him to begin this work. The work comes down to acquiring a desire, because only it is necessary from man’s end. We usually look for fulfillment – this is our natural aspiration. But here we must change our approach completely.

In our world we always lack fulfillment because we always have a desire for material fulfillment: I want one thing, another, and a third, and I look for ways to satisfy my desire.

But in the spiritual world, everything’s opposite. The fulfillment is always present, but there is no desire! Therefore, I have to work on the desire, the necessity, instead of working on the fulfillment as in our world.

Therefore, Israel, called “A head for me” (Li-Rosh – derived by changing the order of the letters) is a person who understands that his work lies in searching for the desire, building it, and forming it correctly, so it would suit the second half – the fulfillment, which is already present. After all, the Creator already fills the entire earth.

100% of man’s work is called half of the perfect state, of the world of Infinity. The second half is 100% of the Light, which fills these 100% of desire.

On every level it is possible to attain a 100% desire according to that level, in order to be filled with 100% of the Light belonging to that level.

Therefore, first of all we need understanding and mutual support, realizing that we must work on the desire rather than the fulfillment. Years go by until a person changes his approach, leaving behind the one he got used to in our world.

It turns out that there is nowhere for a person to run, but only to delve deeper inside himself. That is why it is called “inner work” or one’s inner world. It’s because one has to delve deep inside one’s heart, instead of chasing some external effects. Everything depends on the desire in the heart.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/5/12, Writings of Rabash

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