It is said that “all the gates are locked” for man’s prayer “except for the gate of tears.” But what should we pray and ask for, what decision, if we receive two forces and discern their opposition? The upper one provides the force of the Surrounding Light, egoism awakens against it, and we stand between the two forces: the right and the left.

But the property that we need to attain pertains to the Thought of Creation to delight the creature. It is above all outcomes, actions, and forces. This mind, the head of the upper one, is precisely what the lower one, the creature, strives to attain!

It does not have the slightest chance to achieve this alone through its own effort, since there is a difference between the upper thought, the decisions, and their outcomes and actions. And we, ourselves, are the Creator’s acts.

Hence, when man exhausts all of his resources, having done everything he could, he discovers a special property that he has no connection with. It is a decision, a plan, to create the creature, an entire program conceived long before its creation. Man gets to know who the Creator is Himself, who conceived all this, and why He conceived it as it is: the root of the root of the very point from which the creature was born.

This desire is hidden in the tiniest action, and it leads us on from the very start! But we arrive at it only after a very lengthy search, after many actions. And when we reach it, we discover what is said: “All the gates are locked except the gate of tears.”

It is regarded as the “gate of tears” because all the “hair” strands of the Light (Partzufim Searot, the “hair”) that stretch to us from Above downward, from the upper one who is “storming” (Soer) and suffering while anticipating our arrival, are revealed only now as do the “drops of fortune” (in Hebrew, “Mazal,” from “Nosel” “to trickle”), the droplets of Light that trickle down to us. And one can attain their cause, why and how such effects descend to us, solely by getting to know Rosh de Atzilut (the head of the world of Atzilut).

And this can be reached only through the gate of tears or a state when a person gets to know the difference between the “body” (Guf) of the Partzuf and its “head” (Rosh). He cannot attain and comprehend the head of the upper one itself, its mind, but thanks to this prayer, he attains it.

In fact, by studying all of the Creator’s actions, we receive some idea about His mind. As when we look at a table, we can guess what the maker had in mind, so do we, while studying ourselves and revealing within the Creator’s actions, constantly accumulate this burning desire to understand Him and gradually arrive at the gate of tears.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/10/11 on Prayer

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Question: Do Kabbalists reduce the world’s disasters by virtue of their spiritual progress?

Answer: Of course. Moreover, no one is bigger or smaller in this regard. People think that a great Kabbalist can just pray and make a plague go away. But in reality, it’s the other way around: Precisely the newcomers who have a point in the heart that has just awakened, who are confused and don’t understand anything yet, can do more than the old-timers with their distant, small desire.

Much like a little child who becomes the head of the family, people who have just set out on the spiritual path and who still seem far away from the “real business,” can do more than the “veterans” with their simple desire and their pleas.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/13/11

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After the breaking, the sparks fell into the broken vessels and the Light is inside the desire to receive this Light egoistically. It turns out that I am inside of this egoistic desire in the broken vessel, and that means I want to use society and the Creator to receive spiritual fulfillment, but for my own sake!

I want to advance spiritually by gaining more knowledge, more sensations, and by becoming closer to my friends in order to receive something from them. All of this is aimed in the direction of the spiritual goal, but with an egoistic intention. That is how I activate my spiritual desires or broken vessels. I act from the broken heart and it is precisely inside of it that I will find the Creator among all of my egoistic desires.

I have to work with these desires without being scared or embarrassed! I shouldn’t run away from the horror upon discovering that I am entirely aimed at selfish reception, and I shouldn’t be afraid to get dirty by touching my impure desires. This is, incidentally, Kabbalah’s difference from the religious approach. I have to activate these desires without getting scared or ashamed.

Yes, I am broken! And it is precisely from the depth of this breaking that I reveal the fact that I can attain the goal. This is the place of my contact with the Creator. From there I organize my work in relation to society. And this society also seems egoistic to me since it is my common Kli that is broken in relation to me.

Don’t be afraid of any revelations of evil! The most important thing is that the evil is being revealed for the sake of the goal! In that case, it is the point of truth from which I will already be aimed at the goal.

That is how I accelerate my development and acquire a point of contact with the Creator from within my broken desires, from this entire filthy egoism. That is how I advance. And the more “sinners” that become revealed in me, the better. I am very happy about it because through them I will be able to advance even more!

I only wish to have enough strength to endure in the face of suffering so I won’t run away, or so I won’t sit with my hands folded in my lap and eat myself up. Some people become consumed in eating themselves up and don’t think of using these states for the sake of their advancement when so many negative qualities become revealed to them.

The only thing that can help here is endurance, the speed of the changes, and the force of the group, which must influence a person and always awaken him, not letting him remain depressed and empty. Everything depends on how we prepare ourselves and how we help all the others who are in these broken desires.

After all, we all understand what kind of egoism we are in, and we are not afraid because we support one another and try to pull every person out of the swamp. This enables us to advance.

There is still a lot of work ahead of us in order to reveal our common state and the personal state of every person, and to come out of them. However, it is important to underline that these states become revealed to us when a person aspires toward the goal. That is, the goal is never to reveal the evil! My goal is always to try to reveal goodness, bestowal, love, and unification, but on the way there I reveal opposite qualities. To the degree I try to reveal goodness, on the way I reveal all kinds of “sinners” inside of me.

Then I rejoice at their revelation inside of me because in the same direction come prayer and correction, and thus I move forward. The first half of the vessel is the revelation of evil, while the second half is its correction to goodness.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/9/11 on Prayer

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Our entire work is in revealing an inner ability to perceive the true reality where we exist. Reality is permanent and eternal, and the only thing we lack are the senses to recognize, feel, imagine, and reveal it.

But to do this, one needs to possess the proper desires, the spiritual vessels (Kelim), he himself has prepared within. And the preparation happens in two stages: The appeal for the correction of desire, the prayer (MAN), comes first, followed by the reception of Light from Above (MAD), the upper force that comes and corrects us.

We need to sense within both the prayer (MAN) and the response to it (MAD) in all their actions because they specifically build the organs of perception within us that will enable us to reveal the Upper Light, the Creator. This is why it is written: “It is impossible to attain anything without the force of a prayer.” This is because we need to consciously go through this process, with our own desire preceding it.

But the question is where do we get the proper desire for the revelation of the Upper Light, the Creator, an opposite quality that we are absolutely not prepared for? How do we ask for and want something like this?

We already seem to want spiritual development and to search for a way to advance, but in most cases, we discover ourselves to be in absolute darkness and fog, as if we have waken early in the morning and were unable to understand what is happening to us: Where do we come from, what is our purpose, and what we are to think and want? I open the book or listen to the lesson, and nothing responds within. How am I to prepare and direct myself in the right way, at what expense? After all, a prayer must be suffered, it must be my true desire, coming from the very depth of my heart.

And here we need to understand that our entire work consists of preparing the conditions for a fast emergence of Reshimot (informational genes). To do this, one needs to try to create proper conditions for him: organize the study, participate in dissemination, have a connection with the group, receive the influence from the environment. This is because only a strong influence of the environment will help accelerate the emergence of Reshimot from concealment, from the breaking.

When we join an environment like this, we attract the general Light through it, and it begins to influence us, like the ground influences the grain in it. And when this grain feels the ground’s influence on it, it begins to awaken to life.

Our grain is already planted in the ground and all the necessary Reshimot, their entire chain, are implanted in us. Our objective is only to awaken this ground around us so it will start influencing us. The only thing expected of us is to properly and intensely operate, taking advantage of all the opportunities.

It turns out that my prayer is not directed straight at the Creator; it is as if there is no one to pray to since I don’t know who He is. A prayer begins with properly placing oneself under the influence of the given conditions. And once I am in this environment, I, together with everyone else and my aspiration for spiritual development (my Reshimo), turn to the force that influences the “grain” from the “ground,” meaning my Reshimo through the environment.

This is the force that I want to awaken, and my proper prayer is directed towards it. And remember that the Upper Light, the environment, and the Creator are in an immutable state and at rest. A person activates all these means and uses his desire to launch this entire system so it will start working with him. Otherwise, it will remain in a frozen state of anticipation.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/9/2011, What is Prayer?

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Question: How can it be that a person has been studying for years but still hasn’t attained the prayer, the plea for correction?

Answer: We see that the development of the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature as well as man took place over billions of years all told. They say that the universe emerged about 15 billion years ago. The earth has existed for about 5 billion years. The first people on earth appeared about 200,000 years ago. And man began his spiritual correction starting with Adam HaRishon, 5770 years ago.

It’s not an accident that these processes span over time. There is a specific order here of the revelation of the breaking and its correction. And looking at this development, we have to understand that it demands a great amount of actions to be made inside of the common Malchut so that inside of it some kind of tangible, significant change would occur.

Therefore, even though we yearn to attain the goal as fast as possible and desire to reveal it now, at this very moment, and to immediately reveal it in all its perfection, nevertheless we have to be very patient. And despite anything, we have to expect the arrival of the Messiah any moment now, meaning the arrival of the general force that will correct us and complete all of the correction.

But the days go by, and every new day that comes, corrections happen inside of us. Day and night unite together and that is how we advance. That is to say, we have to understand that Malchut of the world of Infinity, which we reveal, contains such a multitude of actions that their revelation has to happen gradually, one step after the other.

We are unable to understand and feel all at once the entire depth of the vessel or desire that reveals the Creator. Think of the kind of revelation we are getting ready for—it is the revelation of the Creator! This is a non-human force and might with a great number of shades. This is so grandiose that we don’t even understand what we are talking about. That is why the preparation to this revelation happens inside of us by such small steps.

When these steps will be revealed to us later on, we will see how many of them were there! We think that moment by moment, day by day, or even month by month, there are no changes happening. But later these changes will be revealed in us and we will understand what they really did to us, and generally, what happened over that time!
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/9/11 on Prayer

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After all of his searches, a person reaches a state where he asks for just one thing: the ability to make the right decision. And that means he has reached the right prayer.

The most important thing that we will discover by studying the unification of the forces of reception and bestowal is how the Creator makes decisions while being above them, what He bases His decisions on. We will attain Him by His actions. But by researching everything that happens inside of us under His influence, through this we want to attain His mind, His plan, intentions, and thoughts. This is our entire work.

And to do this all that is necessary is prayer. With our own forces we cannot attain His mind and head, the place where decisions are made and from which all actions come. That is because we are also His actions.

And since a spiritual action is always done “for the sake of bestowal,” we cannot understand how the upper mind could have made that decision. This always happens as a “finding” or miracle, as it is written: “I labored and found”! It is impossible to understand the Creator’s mind directly by observing the combination of two forces: reception and bestowal. This is where the difference lies between the Creator Himself, His decision, and all the actions that follow from His decision.

Therefore, a person who reaches prayer asks for the ability to understand precisely this: the plan and thought of the Creator, who makes the decisions. Similarly, Moses was told, “You will see me from behind, but you will not see My face.” This prayer emerges continuously.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/10/11 on Prayer

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Question: How can we keep the right intention in our regular day to day lives? And how should a person react to the troubles that befall him?

Answer: It is written that a person has to make all the possible efforts to reveal his connection with the Creator and with the world, no matter what happens. “If I don’t do it for myself, then who will do it for me?”

He still doesn’t understand the causes, but in the end he must perceive everything taking place as necessary and as the best possible thing for his spiritual advancement. He has to ask his group and the whole world group to think about each other so not one of us would lose the connection with the upper force in his thoughts, with “There is no one else beside Him.”

As soon as we unite in the connection between us and together with the Creator, then nothing bad can happen to any of us. That’s because we enter the process called “carrying out a commandment” and a person who carries out a commandment cannot be harmed.

If a person makes a correction, then no one can harm him. Even if he gets into a descent, it will be a descent for the purpose of ascent and correction. It will be a descent without which an ascent is impossible!
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From the 1st lesson at the Dead Sea Convention on 2/24/11

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Writings of Rabash, Why does it say that “The Creator heals broken hearts”? It is because the most important thing for a person is the heart because it is the vessel for the Upper Light. But if the vessel is broken, then everything filling it spills to the outside.

Therefore, if the heart is broken, meaning, if the egoistic desire rules over the heart, then the Light cannot enter it. Everything a person receives egoistically goes to the impure forces (Klipot). This is called “a broken heart.”

Therefore, a person asks the Creator to help and cure his broken heart because nothing spiritual can enter it and only the Creator can save him. That is why it is written, “The Creator is close to those whose heart is broken.”

The Creator created creation perfect. But then, in order to give creation the ability to understand, feel, reveal, and value this perfect state, He had to take it through states that are opposite to perfection in every form. Then creation will prepare, acquiring the force, sensations, and ability to reveal the perfection that was created in it.

States that are opposite to perfection are called “breaking.” They exist only in relation to creation, inside its sensation and understanding. That is to say, a person reveals that his heart is broken—that all of his desires are broken and that he is ruled by egoism. And just like in a broken vessel, all of the fulfillment he is given spills to the outside and goes to the egoistic desires.

A person feels that he passionately desires bestowal, but is unable to do it because his entire heart is broken. He suddenly reveals that all of his thoughts and desires, his entire aspiration to bestowal is actually aimed at the total opposite: at egoistic reception.

That is to say, he is torn apart in two directions. The first is his passionate desire to the Creator, which seems to come from the bottom of his heart. But he reveals that in actuality, from the bottom of his heart he wants the opposite.

Then, as a result of these two opposite directions that become revealed inside him, a person feels that his heart is broken. That is why he asks the Creator to cure his heart so his intentions would be aimed at the Creator, at bestowal, at the neighbor—only in one direction, without returning back to himself.

Then it is considered a true prayer that is accepted from above, as it is written, “The Creator is close to those whose heart is broken.”

This discernment is the only thing we need.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/9/11 on Prayer

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With all our might we are trying to make at least some kind of practical action of bestowal, to see our environment as bestowing and perfect. We desire to lower ourselves before the environment and to see the friends as the greatest people of the generation so that through them we would receive the opportunity to come to the Creator. But the more we try to do this, the more we reveal that we only want this egoistically, in order to profit at everyone’s expense and to use everyone for our own sake.

These opportunities are constantly revealed to a person and he sees that he immediately recognizes them and wants to use society for his own interests. These are the best moments—revelations of truth. And if a person is willing to endure them and to advance without milling around in them, but continuing to move in the direction of bestowal to the environment, then he will reveal his desire more and more.

He will see that no matter how much he tries to act for the sake of bestowal, to bestow to the environment and to reveal the Creator through others in order to bestow to Him—in response to all the attempts he continuously reveals thoughts of the “broken egoism” and opposite intentions, meaning symptoms of the broken heart.

Only to the degree that a person aspires to bestowal and holiness does he reveal the expressions of the impure force that rules over him. And there is nothing you can do about it because we need this revelation. If egoism is revealed to a person so strongly that he comes to hate it and doesn’t want to remain in it, this is a prayer.

After that it is not necessary to ask for anything any longer. If one does, they will be artificial requests. A prayer is the sensation that is in the heart. If a person feels how much he suffers from his egoistic inclinations, which prevent him from using the means that should have brought him to bestowal to the Creator, then this is already enough. Through that he already becomes closer to the Creator. Everything turns out to be the other way around! He is closest to the Creator precisely when he reveals how broken and opposite to the Creator his heart is.

It follows that we should understand that our work is opposite to the work of a religious person who feels perfect, inspired, and exalted. In Kabbalah everything is opposite: the path to the Creator lies through the broken heart, which is precisely the time we discover how opposite we are to Him. And precisely from this profound descent, calling out to the Creator, we reveal that we have a point of contact with Him.

Therefore, joy and despair come simultaneously, supporting each other and uniting together. That is when the Creator becomes revealed as a result of the unification of these two opposites into one.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/9/11

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