Question: What does it mean to attract the Light that reforms?

Answer: We can only bring our desire, the need to become corrected, but who will correct it? I can only reveal the breaking, while the remedy can come only from Above, only from the Light. The Light broke our Kli or desire, and it also corrects it. It’s the same Light, the same action, but in its opposite form, which is what I now desire.

It turns out that besides revealing the desire, I don’t need anything. As soon as I reveal a desire, it is called a prayer and all of the evil that I revealed immediately becomes corrected. If I really reveal evil in its final, last form on every phase, then it becomes corrected because there I unequivocally reach the true prayer, a cry, a MAN—and correction definitely comes to me.
[63110]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/14/11, The Zohar

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Question: When we try to realize the force that the upper degree sends to us, we discover that it’s impossible…

Answer: That’s absolutely correct. We are endeavoring the impossible, something that is beyond our ability.

Can we ask a donkey to sing us an aria from an opera? It is incapable of that both by its development and physical ability. But we are in a much more dire situation. A donkey at least has auditory and vocal faculties, while we don’t have anything from the spiritual world. We are absolutely cut off from it.

That’s because the spiritual world is the quality of bestowal. So how can we feel it in the egoistic desire? Can bestowal dress into reception? Can fire dress into water? Of course not.

Therefore, our enormous desire is not just aimed at an abstract idea, but at having the upper Light correct us. Three components must be welded in this desire: Israel, Torah, and the Creator. Stated differently: me, the group, and the upper Light. The Light is what corrects me; I will never achieve anything alone.

Therefore, at the Mutual Guarantee Convention, we raise MAN—a desire, a plea, a need for the upper force to correct us. This is the entire essence and objective of the convention.
[62266]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/1/11, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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Right now we are on the threshold of great unification: the December convention. To prepare for it, we need to constantly worry about our connection, about revelation of a common desire between us. To the extent that this desire will truly be common, we will be able to feel the spiritual force in it. After all, unanimity of desires creates the condition, the so-called “vessel,” the Reflected Light, the screen, because we connect together against our ego.

The more egoistic we are in the relationships between us, the more each one puts pressure on himself in spite of his ego and requests for the Light to influence him and help him connect with others, the stronger the screen and the greater the force of overcoming is that we activate to rise above the ego that separates us and pushes us apart from each other.

This common force of overcoming, referred to as the force of mutual guarantee, becomes our common force. The Creator created the forces of rejection between us purposefully, as it is written: “I created the evil inclination,” and we feel how we repulse each other. But we try to overcome these forces of rejection through our common actions and our study so as to attract the Light that Reforms, as we wish to connect despite the forces that constantly push us away from each other like little demons between us. We must prevail over these evil forces and connect.

To the extent that we try to be together as hard as we can so as to eliminate all the differences between our desires, thoughts, and actions and to truly be like one man with one heart, to that extent we reveal that only we can help each other acquire this common aspiration for connection, as it is written: “Man will help his neighbor.”

Then in this common aspiration we discover that we are not able to connect. But we already uncover our common desire to unite, instead of individual separate desires to connect with others. This common desire is called the prayer of many, a common prayer. And then our request for the Light, the Creator, rises specifically out of this common prayer. And help from Above comes only in response to these mutual efforts, which means that it comes from within, from unity above our degree. This is called MAD, the correcting Light that creates a connection between us despite the forces of rejection.

These rejecting forces are called “Aviut” (the thickness of desire), and the forces of connection are called the “screen.” These two forces together, which we form to bestow to a higher degree, the Creator, are called the Reflected Light since we wish to be exactly like the Light that has corrected us, that is, we wish to bestow. And then we realize the condition under which the Creator, the Giver, becomes revealed in us.

We complete all these stages only with the help of the Light that Reforms. This Light may shine on us even when we do not ask anything of it, like an infant who does not know why he is screaming, but he is taken care of. Alternatively, we can begin to distinguish what exactly it is that we need, and then our prayer becomes more directed and thought over. Or we really consciously raise our request in the right direction, knowing clearly that we demand the ability to bestow to the upper degree.

But everything is done by the Light that Reforms. To tell you the truth, what could be better than constantly reading The Zohar and doing all these actions…This is the ideal state. But reality is such that man must go to work, go about his daily business, and then come for a few hours and raise his prayer. At first he collects different problems, desires, aspirations, and hopes within him, and afterwards he comes to The Zohar. And then we connect together and raise our common prayer through studying together.
[61527]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/23/2011, The Zohar

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When we try to connect, we start feeling that we lack some kind of help from Above because we cannot do it on our own. We can neither connect nor synchronize our movements, but this revelation gives us knowledge of the One Who can do this for us. It can only be the upper force!

And then we reveal the need for the upper one and the place in which He has to act in us. It always works this way in the spiritual world: I work, applying more and more effort, and at the end I reveal a “minus.” And from this minus I discover the “plus” that possibly has what I lack.

I always reveal a lack, a vessel, a desire, and against it I reveal the power, the Light, which can do what I couldn’t. No matter how much I tried, I didn’t manage. So I arrive at the conclusion that I’m unable to do it, but at the same time I see Who can.

That’s why our movements always start off in the negative direction and cause disappointment, tiredness, and anger in us. From the experience of our whole life we can’t understand how this can be. In our egoism we always used to act differently: He who makes an effort wins, succeeds, and receives a reward.

And about the spiritual world it is said: “I labored and found,” and not that I “won,” “earned,” or “stole.” This means that I didn’t achieve this using my own power when I start an action and finish it.

Here it works differently. Thanks to my efforts I reach a certain limit, when nothing turns out right and I fall into despair, leave it, and don’t want anything, feeling completely disappointed, and only then, if I move one millimeter ahead, I reveal that there is a force that can do this!

And this force hides itself deliberately, until I reach a state of total despair. Baal HaSulam writes in his letter: “There isn’t a happier moment in a person’s life than when he reaches the limit of his own powers and sees that there is no success” as only then can he raise a prayer and cry out. He will know Who he has to address—only then will it be revealed to him.

Furthermore, he knows that he doesn’t have a choice: He must cry out. And in reality, nothing more is required but this cry.
[61231]
From Lesson 2, Arvut Convention at the Arava Desert 11/18/2011

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Everything is gained through the power of prayer. If I am the desire to receive, I can’t do anything with myself because I lack the second force: the desire to bestow. The presence of these two forces existing in creation is necessary for me to fight, make decisions, and do something to one with respect to the other.

The first force is egoistic. It is given to us at birth. But how do we get the force of bestowal that comes from the Creator? That is the problem, and our prayer is about that.

Why do we need the second force? If I feel a lack with regards to the first, egoistic force, I begin searching for how to fill it. And this is also called a prayer. Even a thief, who is planning to steal but is feeling anxious about his success, creates a prayer for a successful robbery through his desire. And it also receives a response just like any other lack.

Thus the problem is not in the desire, but what it is directed to. It shouldn’t be a desire toward filling my egoism that develops in a natural way, making me act for my own good. The still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature are instinctively developed in such a way.

But the human level doesn’t exist in nature as a result of its natural development. “A human” not in the sense of a physical body of this world, which essentially is the highest level of the animate degree, but a spiritual human who is similar to the Creator can develop only under the condition of acquiring the second force, the force of bestowal in addition to the first one, the force of reception. Thanks to this, man becomes similar to the Creator.

But how can this force be passed to a person if it only belongs to the Creator? This transition cannot be direct. Rather, it can happen through some influence or example from the Creator, either in a hidden or revealed form, when the desire to receive in a person changes its shape and behavior. And instead of receiving directly, like it is intended by nature, it starts working differently.

The desire to receive inside a person will change itself. It’s not like two opposite forces becoming revealed inside him or her: the human desire to receive and the Creator’s desire to bestow. The force of bestowal exists only in the Creator. It can only be passed to a person through the influence of the Creator. And then the person’s desire will change its shape and external manifestation.

He starts acting in bestowal for the sake of bestowal, restraining himself and not harming or using another person. Or, he receives for the sake of bestowal by working the same way he used to, but with the intention to bring good to the other.
[61324]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/21/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: You’ve mentioned that the environment is the only means for keeping a person in the correct intention. Does this mean that the only way one can advance is by creating an environment like at the desert convention, which will constantly motivate him to remain in the correct intention and in the quality of bestowal?

Answer: This is correct. Without the influence of the environment a person loses himself. There are lots of people who simply burn their time by sitting home and watching soap operas or reading suspense and romance novels. Time passes by…. They feel that they fill their time with empty things, but they can’t do anything about it.

I receive complaints from people: “I am not doing anything! How can I break out of this state?” A person promises himself that starting tomorrow he’ll take charge of his life, but then tomorrow comes, and he is still in the place he was yesterday. Day after day goes by, and the clock can’t be turned back.

What can a person do? There is actually nothing he can do. This is how he’s being shown from Above that without the influence of the environment he won’t have the strength to advance. He must immerse himself in a correct environment, like a child who enters an adult environment. By doing this he will receive strength from them.

Rabbi Jossi Ben Kisma said: “What will I do without my students?” Did he need to receive knowledge from them? No, but he did need their general desire toward the goal. Did he not posses his own desire? After all, his desire was much greater than all of their desires! This is true. However, without connecting to them, he wouldn’t have his “billion times greater desire plus one.” Without them he wouldn’t be able to advance a single degree further. If he was left without his students, starting the next day he would go from reading The Zohar to reading the news.
[61011]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/17/2011, The Zohar

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The Book of Zohar was intended not for us to study it, but rather for us to demand correction from it. In makes no difference where a person is, in what situation or mood, how much he understands, and what his attitude to life is. It doesn’t matter what kind of person he is. If he opens the book, he should ask for some clarification, for advancement. One asks for understanding, and another, possibly, for a better life.

We have to understand that this is all not very important in comparison to the request to attain the goal. But I don’t know what the goal is. Just like it is in life: If I were able to read The Zohar when I was two years old, I could have asked for something good that may have seemed like the goal of life to me. But what would I have asked for, some toy?

This means that I don’t have to ask according to my desire: to feel good, happy, or the opposite. Grown ups for example, eat something and enjoy it. For me it is sour or salty, but they enjoy it. They do things that I don’t see any pleasure in and don’t understand why they want it in the first place, and so on.

If we are talking about the true state that I should attain, neither actions, nor fulfillments, nor any other criteria help me decide what to ask for. Kabbalists say that by reading The Book of Zohar you can ask for whatever you want. But I don’t even know what I want because I would rather not have these desires. Yet I have no choice.…

A person must approach the reading of The Zohar with a request for what the book itself wants to bring him. This is surely the right thing to do. It’s like being a smart baby who understands that he should ask to be a grown up, clever, strong, healthy, and successful, according to how The Zohar sees it.

So let us try to ask for this, and let The Book of Zohar do whatever it wants with us!
[60778]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/15/2011, The Zohar

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Question: What’s the use of the group’s seclusion at the Convention in the Arava desert?

Answer: We have gathered here to lay the foundation for a new society, whose purpose is to attain adhesion with the Creator. In order to attain adhesion with Him, we have to attain adhesion among us. And in order to attain adhesion among us, we have to unite, disconnecting from the disturbances of the outside world. After all, we’re small and we have to strengthen one another, so let the world not interfere with our doing so. That is why we are going to the desert.

In the past, groups of Kabbalists took much more extraordinary measures to isolate themselves from the external environment. A person has to allow himself a bit more freedom from this confused and senseless world, to collect himself inside a bit more and understand what his predestination is.

In the whirlwind of life, under the roar of the radio and television, you can’t make out the fine voice of your soul or attain the fragile inner inspiration. You simply don’t have the energy for it. Even Kabbalists living hundreds and thousands of years ago in a completely different world, which did not know the “wonders” of mass media, still secluded themselves, barring themselves from their habitual environment, and even “going into exile,” leaving home without taking anything with them and going off to wander for years, getting by with occasional earnings and food.

You don’t even know what you are losing in the modern world, which is stuffing and miring you with its filth. Do you want to attain something exalted? If you do, then what efforts are you making to break away from the lowlands?

It’s worthwhile for us to find time for this kind of seclusion where we will feel only our own forces, without the disturbances of the outside world. Let’s separate a day in life to feel who we are instead of who they are.

Obviously, we don’t force anyone to participate and we don’t make lists of participants or deserters. We don’t put check-marks for the future. Whoever doesn’t want to or can’t come just doesn’t come. In this sense, everything is very liberal and open. But on the other hand, if a person comes there, he has to participate in the actions that the group has assigned to help us detach from everything and feel only ourselves.

Don’t you sometimes wish to be alone with yourself? That is how the group wants to be alone with itself, to feel itself. You enter a room, close the door, and remain with your own thoughts. That is how we want to remain with our thoughts. In reality, this is clear and commonly accepted. But for us it’s not just a minute of rest, but a detachment from “the degree of women and children” and an ascent to the “men’s level.”

In the article, “The importance of the group,” Rabash writes, “When a person works on the true path, he needs to seclude himself from other people. After all, the path of truth requires fortification because it contradicts common notions. The world’s opinions are built upon knowledge and reception, whereas the Torah’s opinions are built upon faith and bestowal. And if a person is distracted, then he immediately forgets about all work on the path of the truth and falls into the world of self-love. Only in the group do the friends help one another, and therefore every person receives forces from it to fight the commonly accepted notions.”

The upper world is our inner world. We have to shift our gaze from externality to internality. Therefore, with the help of the friends, I try to go inside, to look inward, to acquire a deep wisdom, to attain the inner meaning of the Torah. There is no other choice—I need this.

A person must constantly immerse himself inward, penetrate into his depths—and precisely there he reveals the true world. The external world deliberately confuses us so through the conflict with it, upon the resistance, we would build our direction inward. Our struggle is to penetrate deeper and deeper on the background of this world’s reality, which pulls us outward.
[60927]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/16/11, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Question: We only reveal the Creator, the force of bestowal, when we become similar to Him in our qualities. Then what is the meaning of the principle, “don’t lose hope in His mercy?”

Answer: It means that one has appealed a thousand times, like King David who symbolizes the collective Malchut, the collective vessel, one that is deeper than the Psalms reveal. Read them. They are all his appeals and requests, praises and lamentations. This is the meaning of “do not lose hope in His mercy.” Try to express and realize your lamentation the same way, and then you will come to a final blessing.

Question: So it turns out that the Creator is waiting for us to scream at the top of our lungs?

Answer: It is written that the Creator is waiting for prayers and a broken heart, that He likes people whose hearts are broken, and that He receives a lot of pleasure from your tears. This is because your tears are a sign of egoism’s weakness and your disappointment in it.

We receive blows from egoism, not the Creator. However, it takes time to understand that. Really, what do you want from the Creator if you are being hit by your evil inclination?

This is why we need to strictly determine that our place of work is the group. Only then will we reach a true prayer, and naturally, it will happen through a number of disappointments.
[60648]
From Lesson 3, Israel Arvut Convention, 11/11/2011

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The upper worlds are showing us a model, and we must become similar to it. Our connection between us is the quality we are able to achieve in order to correspond to the Light. When a person connects with others, with his bestowal, he builds out of himself a spiritual Partzuf from the ten Sefirot.

Bestowal cannot exist in any form other than the ten Sefirot. When it assumes the right form, it manifests as a spiritual Partzuf whose height we can measure according to the rungs of the spiritual ladder in the upper worlds.

It turns out that we can measure the height of a soul, meaning the connections of separate desires, and understand the power we attain through it in relation to the entire common soul. In the end, the desire created by the Creator remains, but it acquires the form of the Sefirot, the sources of the illumination that reach me from all the worlds through which the simple Light of the world of Infinity passes.

The Creator places the system of worlds in front of me, and it serves as a source of Light that is always ready to influence me, that is ready to affect my desire if I have prepared it for use. The Light is in a state of absolute rest, and the way it will affect me only depends on my desire. There are no changes in the Light. All the changes take place only in my desire, which I am able to change as I work on the connection in the group.

After all, the connection of a group is the actual desire that awakens the Light, forcing it to shine and return us to bestowal, a connection with one another. There is no other desire but the one that exists inside the group and is directed toward unity. Only this kind of desire can attract the Light because they have the same nature. None of the other desires are subject to correction; they are egoistic.

The only desire that counts is the desire to unite with a friend, with the group. When a person really rises above his corporeal body and wishes to connect above it, “in his head,” placing this aspiration for connection above all his private goals, only to this degree does the Light reach a person across all the Sefirot and correct his desire, connecting his private desire to the common one.

This way, we correct the shattering and reveal the vessel of our soul and the Light that fills it in our connection. Then a person sees that worlds do not exist on their own, outside of man. All of this exists only in potential and is realized only in practice when we want to connect. Then, to the extent of the power, height, and nature of this connection, we reveal the upper Light that is always ready for it. This means that the system of the worlds is being revealed to us.

This system of worlds does not exist without our appeal. It is entirely in the world of Infinity, in the Thought of Creation to please the created beings. Only at the exact moment when there appears a desire that demands to be corrected for the purpose of connection does the system of concealment begin to operate in relation to this desire, suiting it exactly according to its height and nature. The Light influences the desire from this system and reforms it.
[60666]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/14/2011, Shamati #68

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