There is a real wall between us: the creature on one side, the Creator on another. So how do you figure to go through this wall? How can this be done when there is absolute bestowal on the other side, and absolute reception on our side, and there is no connection at all between them?! There simply cannot be a connection, as if there were a “plus” on one side, and a “minus” on the other, and these two vertexes can never meet.

This is why the breaking took place, which is followed by pieces of the creature entering the Creator and the pieces of the Creator entering the creature. These actions serve as a preparation. Now there are qualities of the creature inside the Creator (AHP), and qualities of the Creator inside the creature (a spark, Reshimo), and they can have a certain connection between them.

The surrounding Light exists in the AHP, which has risen from within all desires because of the breaking. And the creature has information about the broken desires, the Reshimo. So there is a so-called “surrounding” connection. This still pertains to the preparation.

And now the creature raises a prayer (MAN) and receives an answer (MAD) from the Creator. We have a mutual need in one another! After the breaking, the upper suffers because the lower suffers. And the lower has a spark, which once belonged to the upper. And with these corrupt memories, referred to as egoistic, Lo Lishma, we can establish a connection with the Creator as if from afar, from the past.

The breaking, which happened some time ago, creates a connection today—even though it happened in the past, this past connects us! This connection through the breaking is referred to as the surrounding Light or MAD from the perspective of the upper, and a prayer or MAN from the perspective of the lower.
[64504]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/27/11, “Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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Question: Why do we exert ourselves in one place and find the result in another place?

Answer: I exert myself everyway I can, I work with what I have: myself, the group, the teacher, and the books. I do all that egotistically.

I exert myself for myself, for Lo Lishma, (not for its sake) because of my desire to profit: to discover the upper world, the Creator, so that everything will be in my favor! Of course, there is no other way. I only think about myself, whether I realize that or not, that’s the way it is.

Although I demand: “Give me!” and want to fill myself, still because I deal with something that is so special, it does the opposite, it inverts and I receive something that I didn’t ask for!

After all I didn’t ask for true bestowal. I can’t ask for it, but I receive it. That’s the whole trick: It is as if we are cheated! But we don’t know that, and follow this lie.

This is how the Creator has created us, but you have to follow the conditions accurately, like in a recipe: Take 10 grams from here, 10 gram from there, mix it up and drink it—and this will be your medicine.

This is what Kabbalists say: You have a group, a teacher, and books. You have to organize all that in your work, with a special intention. Deal with it and eventually you will receive something!

But what will you receive? Even if you cannot ask for bestowal (after all, we know who you are and what you are), if you fill all these conditions accurately, it will work and you will receive it.

This is how it works, and this is why it is called Segula (a miraculous remedy)! Even the angels complained to the Creator that he gave people something that they didn’t ask for. But this is the way this system works.
[64413]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/27/11, Writings of Rabash

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We don’t change reality, but only our relation to it, its perception. We need to worry about our inner feelings so that each time we transform each situation to joy.

And this isn’t because it causes me to feel good—I can also feel bad. Rather, I feel good because this situation comes from the Creator and thus I cause Him happiness. In my every correction makes me feel good, I feel good from the fact that I bring contentment to Him.

And the first correction is to rise above good and evil so that it is not important how I feel. This means that I rise above my desire to receive. Try to eat something with the intention to bestow and see that the tastiest food loses its taste. Thus, I now rise above my good or bad sensation, and it becomes tasteless to me, like grass.

Afterwards I begin to feel the taste of importance of the Giver, and as a result of this, I cause Him delight. And having felt the importance of the Giver, I return to myself and enjoy in all of my desires. However, it is already a different pleasure: I enjoy because I delight the Creator.

This means that I do not change reality, but I change my relation to it. The main factor in all of these actions is the greatness of the Creator, which for me changes everything. I work on a higher level than the one where I felt good or bad in my beastly body. I need this beast, but I work above it.

Thus this is considered my free choice. Indeed, I receive a free plane in which I can do whatever I want. I don’t go into this low area where the Creator directs me through different situations. And my free choice is consequently expressed when above all these states, I build a relation called the intention to bestow.
[63716]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/20/2011, “Introduction to TES”

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If we need to rise above this life to the intention for the sake of bestowal, then regardless of how bad life on this plane is, we can create the most favorable relations with the Creator above it. This condition already shows the initial point of the ascent from the physical, beastly, level of sensations to the level of spiritual intentions.

There are two levels: the level of sensation and the level of intention, which is also a sensory level but is connected with the Giver. In sensation, in desire, I can feel good or bad. Whereas, with the intention, it can be for my own sake or for the sake of the Creator.

If I want to reach free choice, I need to work on the level of intention. It doesn’t matter what will happen on the level of my desire—I need only to worry about the intention. Below can be a very bad life, and above, on the level of intention, I attain goodness and give thanks to the Creator. If I can do this, it is a sign that I attained the intention to bestow, “Lishma.”

I rose above my desire, detached myself from it, restricted it, and stopped relating to me all that is good and bad. I look at myself from the side and see how this machine feels itself, its parameters and conditions. And then I understand how it needs to work for the sake of something else. This means that I am disconnected from myself.
[63713]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/20/2011, “Introduction to TES”

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Question: What does the law of loving the other give us?

Answer: By means of loving the other we can reach love of the Creator, which is the purpose for which we begin our development. The purpose of creation is to reach love of the Creator.

The Creator initially had a perfect love of the creature according to His nature of good that does good. Bringing the creature to this goodness means bringing it to the point of adhesion with the Creator.

It turns out that love of the Creator is the purpose of our development, its final point. It is reached through keeping the 612 commandments (various preparations in our 612 egoistic desires in order to turn them toward bestowal), which are necessary to reach the last, 613th commandment of love and bestowal toward each other.

Each rule consists of a connection in a variety of details. Following the example of the “holy group,” that is, the society built on the laws of bestowal and consisting of a few people united by one goal, our aim is to reach a higher purpose through giving to each other.

Giving in itself is not a purpose. If we gather together only to give to each other, we build an egoistic formation by enjoying each other. Such a union is advantageous to me because ten of us can reach more fulfillment than one. Everyone will receive pleasure from the other nine.

However, such bestowal doesn’t take us out of the egoistic law of receiving for oneself. Only if we bestow upon each other in order to bestow upon the Creator can we be called a holy group that wants to reach bestowal. Otherwise, we would build an egoistic society in order to mutually profit from each other.

A perfect spiritual structure should consist of not less than ten people, according to the ten Sefirot of a spiritual body. Then bestowal of one toward the other will bring us to bestowal toward the Creator since together, we want to become the full ten Sefirot.

Malchut is included in the first nine Sefirot (Tet Rishonot). Thus, ten Sefirot of bestowal (ten Sefirot of the Direct Light) are formed. And the first nine Sefirot get included into Malchut and form ten receiving Sefirot (ten Sefirot of the Reflected Light). Thus, we come to mutual bestowal. The need for such an action gives us the right to receive the power, the fulfillment from Above, and is called a prayer.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/15/2011, Writings of Rabash

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It is written, “There is none else beside Him.” This means that there is no other force in the world (there is no other power, beside the one Upper Force, neither in the smallest of deeds, nor in the entire universe in general), that has the ability to do anything against Him. And what man sees, that there are things in the world that deny the Higher Household, (the Creator’s power over me), the reason is that this is His will.

We become confused when we supposedly think that there are friends, a group, people, a big world with its supposed “rulers,” and even I, who makes decisions. The Upper Force wishes for me to think this way, to think that I control things, and that there are other people and another power beside Him.

And it is deemed a correction, called “the left rejects and the right adducts,” meaning that which the left rejects is considered correction. In other words, also the things which appear bad to us—rejection from the spiritual, the path, and the group, when I forget about the goal and do not want it, when I think that the group does not want me—all of these problems come only from one force, which rules over everything, regardless of whether I can see it. The Creator controls the external world and inside of me, all my thoughts and desires.

I want to advance, join a group and to attain the Upper Force through it, I want to reveal Him, cling to my friends and reveal the Upper Light within them, the quality of bestowal. But even when I strive towards this in the most direct and sincere form, with my whole heart, I still experience descents and confusion in the most sincere point, which I rarely manage to attain through hard work. I suddenly fall from my very direct path.

I could understand it if I were to go in some wrong direction and I were being returned to the direct path. But no, it is when I am already standing on the very direct path that I deviate and fall.

A person is pushed away from the goal and the group, suddenly becomes confused and loses the desire. He thinks that his friends are no good, the path is wrong, and the entire system does not work, and it is unclear who has ever reached and attained the spiritual world. But it is this kind of rejection that helps him acquire an absolute desire. Next….

And this is exactly what we need. Right now I have a small desire for spirituality, but I do not feel that it is not enough. Everyone thinks that his heart is about to explode and that he is ready for anything! But in reality, in order to achieve spiritual power, we need a much stronger inner pressure, inner desire, and thirst.

And we become rejected in order to increase our aspiration to the sufficient level—to acquire a complete desire and understand that there is nothing we can do without the Creator’s help.

We need to reach a state when our scream passes through our unity, our connection, and is directed towards the Creator—with the request for the upper force, the Light which returns to the source, the common force of bestowal, which encompasses all of nature, to help us! Let it correct my only egoistic part in nature and pull it forward.

Otherwise I see that I am doomed. In other words I must reach a state where I see that I have done the most I could for the sake of my connection inside the group, that I have put all my effort into attaining unity, a connection with friends, those with who I wanted to reach the connection with the Creator, to reveal the power of bestowal, so it would reign in us and fill us with this unique quality.

And here we lack a common cry to the Creator, the upper force. We must feel lost so that a single scream of ours would be enough. But it must really come from a state of despair, when we see that we will never achieve success without His aid.
[63568]
From Lesson 4, The World Arvut Convention 12/7/11

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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.
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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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