The group is my copy, my shadow, just as I am the Creator’s shadow. I receive much more from my friends than what I put into them. It doesn’t depend on them or their behavior, but only on my attitude to them. This environment is also the Creator. It is the opportunity He gave me to work with Him, having created an illusion for me as if something exists outside of me while, in fact, only the Creator exists outside of me.

That is why we must always awaken the environment until we attain the state where the environment influences me so I desire to unite with it in order to unite with the Creator through it. I cannot attain the Creator without the environment because the environment is an external means through which I will see the image of the Creator.

If I don’t desire to unite with the group, then I am not aiming at the goal, the Creator at all. After all, who is my neighbor? The force of the breaking that took place in spirituality divided me into two parts: me and my neighbor. What for? It was in order for me to discern what I lack in order to unite with the Creator.

As soon as I can bring this environment closer to me even though it seems foreign to me, the more I am able to come closer to the Creator. I was deliberately endowed with a dual perception so I would see a part of me as alien and hateful.

That is why “love your neighbor as yourself” is the main rule of the Torah. This is the only thing the Light corrects, and there is nothing to correct but this. If you don’t ask for this correction, then all your efforts are wasted. Everything else is useless cries into the wilderness.
[22633]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/5/10, The Zohar

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Question: For what should we ask the Creator?

Answer: There can only be one request: for the Light that Reforms, the force. I cannot change myself. The entire humanity is gradually becoming desperate trying to do it. It is becoming clear that in the end, we only get more confused even in the systems that we have built ourselves.

It is true that we must reach despair in our work. It is not easy. Baal HaSulam writes that there is no happier moment in a person’s life than the moment when he becomes completely disillusioned in his strength. And then, when he sees that he has no other choice, he turns to the Creator, and the Creator responds because his appeal is absolute.

The Light does not work before there is desire. There are 125 degrees on the way towards it. If I rise to the first degree, if I lack Light even to the smallest extent, then the Light influences me. Thus I enter the zone of Light. On the fifth degree, my need increases, and the Light works accordingly because I became closer to it. Such are the laws in the zone of Light.

So far we exist at the level of this world, we lack demand. As soon as a demand appears, the Light will immediately begin to work since it created the desire and maintains it. Desire can never do anything on its own.

In this case, how can the desire have a need (Hissaron) for the Light? There is a spark of Light in the desire, which was left in it after the breaking of the souls; it awakens you, and draws you towards the Light even though the desire pulls you down.

Nothing is expected of a person before the spark becomes manifested, he is simply being developed egoistically. But once the spark ignites, the Light stops working and gives you the opportunity to ask for it. At this stage you are brought to a place where you can magnify your spark until you begin to desire the Light’s influence.

[22348]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/1/10, Shamati #38

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Question: Reading The Book of Zohar with the right intention turns into the “potion of life.” What does “the potion of death” mean while reading The Zohar?

Answer: The Zohar can work like the “potion of life” or the “potion of death,” and using the Light of the Torah can be good or bad. All that adds strength to our nature can turn out to be useful or harmful, meaning to turn it into the “potion of life” or into the “potion of death.” This is the reason why we always refer to intention (rather than action) as the most vital thing.

We don’t even realize the extent to which we all live in the world of intentions. Sometimes I am repulsed by something, but my attitude changes dramatically when I begin to understand that it was done with a good intention. Has anything changed? Only my perception of the intention that lies behind the action.

Thus, the only difference lies in intention: What exactly do I anticipate from an action? The difference is in using the Light as the “potion of life” or as the “potion of death.” It’s the different between two worlds.

Our advancement happens only within intention to the degree of our ability to share, differentiate, and sense it in order to feel the tiniest fluctuations of our personal intention rather than the intention of our environment.
[22188]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/27/10, The Zohar

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Question: What is intention, a thought or a feeling?

Answer: Intention is my connection to the end of the action. I need to stretch the binding thread from me to the end of the action: Now, I intend to disclose the place where I will reveal the Creator by acquiring the equivalence of form.

In other words, right now, I intend to reveal the force of bestowal in myself to the extent that I can, and in this force that I obtain, I will reveal Him. Then, the force of bestowal will emanate from me, and the Creator will be revealed. A connection will arise between us called “mating, coupling” (Zivug), unification, or adhesion.

I imagine this desired state for myself, and this is called my intention. It is what exactly that I intend to achieve, what future state I picture for myself, and wish for it to occur.
[21970]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/26/10, The Zohar

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The Zohar, Chapter “VeYechi (And Jacob Lived),” Item 462: Happy are the righteous who are rewarded with that upper light, the illuminating mirror that shines to all sides, to the right and to the left. Each of those righteous receives in his share what he should, meaning receives according to his actions in this world. And there are some who are ashamed by that light of which their friend received more to illuminate.

We want to know all of these details, to understand where they are situated, where the root and the branch of every word and its spiritual quality is. We look for all these gradations of qualities that The Zohar speaks of within ourselves.

Obviously, they are all found only within us, at the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking levels of our desires. We perceive only the reality that exists inside our soul. Even now, we remain inside our soul, inside this Kli (desire); all the phenomena occur in it.

However, alongside this inner search, we must always remain hopeful that the Surrounding Light will influence us and open our eyes. It is not with our reason that we wish to reveal the Upper World, to find all the gradations of its qualities, and to get our bearings in the common soul. Rather, what we want is for the Light of correction to shine upon us. This is referred to as “awaiting salvation.”

It is said that after death the soul “in the heavens” is asked only two questions. “Did you study the Torah (did you draw upon yourself the Light that Reforms)? Were you awaiting salvation (for when this Light will correct you)?” We must always remain in this intention.
[22115]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/27/10, The Zohar

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Question: Rabash writes that the Creator “hears the prayer of every mouth.” But you say that the prayer has to be internal. So what prayer does He hear?

Answer: A prayer is a desire that actually reaches the Creator. There are only two forces in the world: the forces of reception (attraction) and bestowal (rejection). And there is a law of the equivalence of form: In the degree of their similarity, the forces (objects) grow closer, and in the degree of their difference, they grow apart.

Since the Creator is an absolute will to bestow, He “expects” from us equivalence with Him, where the will to receive would desire to become similar to Him and also become the force of bestowal. To ensure this, He placed His spark, “the point in the heart,” the initial point of the quality of bestowal, into the will to receive, our nature. And we must cultivate it.

The Creator responds only to a prayer for this. All other kinds of prayers don’t reach Him. The Creator hears the prayer of everybody who is asking for the force of bestowal. The Creator is the law of bestowal, so he reacts to no pleas but those asking for the ability to bestow. And if we don’t ask for it, He sends us even greater suffering so that we may realize for what we should be asking.
[21407]
From the Lesson on Rabash’s Article, 9/17/10

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As we read The Zohar, what is important to me? Is it to know the text in all its details or to get to know the Creator? After all, The Zohar talks about Him and His actions. Do I wish to know what’s written about the actions themselves or about where and from Whom these actions come?

There is a breaking point concealed here which leads either to success or failure, Light or darkness, revelation of the Creator or remembrance of the text, studying the Torah or attaining the One who gives the Torah. The goal is to reveal and get to know the Creator who is behind the text. He is precisely what is important to me, and that is why I think about how to reveal the force through the actions that are described here.

It is like I sit at the table with the Host, who has prepared the most exquisite dishes for me. However, I don’t even look at the dishes or pay attention to anything around me. It’s not that I neglect everything; I use it just in order to reveal Him and to obtain a connection with Him.

Why did I come to this table in the first place? I came for the sake of the Host, in order to meet Him, not for the food. Once I perform various actions in order to get to know Him, I am then allowed to take anything I want from the table, to taste it and enjoy it. I can do anything as long as He is important to me and everything else is just a means.

As we read The Zohar, we study the Creator’s actions, and the only purpose of doing so is to reveal Him. We should concentrate on what is behind the text and try to permeate through it. On the one hand, the book seems to confuse me. On the other hand, through my effort to penetrate through the text, I suddenly begin to see the Creator behind it. There is no other opportunity to reveal Him. There is no other connection to the Host.

I don’t understand Him because He is concealed behind the table. I can understand Him only by studying the dishes given to me. For example, I like sweets and He has prepared them for me. He created me to like sweets and He gave them to me. What does He desire by this? In addition, I don’t really like sour things, yet He gives me sour. Why? I need to reveal Him through myself.
[21569]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/20/10, The Zohar

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In order to reach a new degree I need to acquire an additional desire, heaviness of the heart. I can then scrutinized it and make an appeal with a completed prayer by realizing that I cannot remain in this egoism, that what I’m missing is the quality of bestowal. I don’t tell the Creator that I’m feeling bad and ask Him to make things better for me. My prayer can only be this: “It is good that You have given me this evil so that I can understand how to desire bestowal and rise to love of others.”

I don’t ask for the evil to be taken away because it is the only foundation that I can use to build upon, or else I would remain a beast. Instead, I must examine this evil, this sensation of emptiness, so as to recognize it as help against my egoism, compelling me to connect to others.

I give thanks for the “evil” and hope that it stays because otherwise I would fall back into my egoism. But above the evil, I want to build an attitude of bestowal toward everybody else. And therefore, I view the evil as a helper which frees me from my egoistic desires since the feeling of unpleasantness allows me to disconnect from them.

If a person burned himself, then he would no longer want to touch the object that burned him. Similarly, I begin to no longer want these desires and, above them, I build an attitude of bestowal. This requires a new beginning, Rosh Hashanah (A New Year), a state when I no longer desire past fulfillments because I feel them as evil. On the contrary, above it, I now want to build an attitude of bestowal to others. This transformation, the transition from one to the other, is called the Beginning of a New Year.

And then, after verifying that I am unable to do it on my own, I arrive at Yom Kippur, having only the desire but feeling that I lack the strength. That is how I arrive at the prayer, and this is called the Day of Atonement. In this state I don’t judge the Creator, but rather myself because I lack the strength to bestow, and herein lies my sin.

This is what I scream about on Yom Kippur when I atone for all my “sins.” The true meaning of the Day of Atonement is the revelation of the Kli that is ready for correction. It is a turning point on Rosh Hashanah when I decide to reject the old desire, and approach and resolve to strive for bestowal. But in the 10 days from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur I have verified that I am incapable of bestowal. And now for the first time, I turn to the Creator with a genuine appeal and achieve contact with Him.

This appeal reaches Him at last because I do not request fulfillment, only the force of correction. And so I arrive at the gate of prayer.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/15/10, Excerpts on Yom Kippur

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Yom Kippur, the Day Of Atonement, is a state when the Kli (desire) that we need to correct is revealed. Rabash writes in many articles that a person comes to the Day Of Atonement according to his inner state, which can be revealed without any connection to the onset of the holiday according to the calendar.

Each of us goes through these states in our development, including ascents called Rosh HaShana (the New Year), Yom Kippur (the Day Of Atonement) and others. Yom Kippur is a very elevated state. A great Light has to influence us in order to reveal this degree in us and a whole sequence of actions is required. A person must exert great effort within the group, in our unification, where the breaking once occurred. The place of the breaking is given to us so that we can correct it. Then we will understand what is called correction, what the structure of this place is, and how the Upper Force created and continues to support it. As a result, we discover the Creator.

In order to achieve this, we exert effort according to the main rule of the Torah: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” As Kabbalists advise us, we first actualize it in one or several small groups rather than in all of humanity, since that would be impossible. By trying to realize this rule in the unification between us according to the method of Kabbalists, we go from love for the created beings to love for the Creator and discover to what extent we are not in the quality of love and bestowal.

We are not talking about life in this world and how good or bad we feel. We do not check good and evil according to this, nor do we arrive at The Day Of Atonement in this manner. Only by being in a group, aspiring toward the connection between us, and awakening the Light that Reforms, do I come to see how consumed I am by hatred and rejection with regard to my friends, who are trying to unite in order to reveal the Creator within the group.

I reveal the force of the separation, the force of the breaking in me, and only in regard to this force can I say that I have revealed evil. Then, with this evil, I can come to the Creator and demand correction from Him. The Day Of Atonement then becomes a day of joy because I reveal the ailment of egoism, my own nature that needs to be corrected. I reveal the condition, “I created egoism,” and now I can ask the Creator for the Torah, which is the force to correct it. It is written, “I created egoism and I created the Torah for its correction because the Light in it returns one to the Source” (to the Creator).

First we have to work very hard on the unification between us, and then the Upper Light shines upon us from the level of ELUL (which stands for “I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine”). Then we reach Rosh Hashanah, a state where we desire a new beginning, new changes on the path, unity between us, the birth of a new system or a new human being (Adam) in us. And only after going through all of this do we reach a state where we check all ten of our qualities. On the 10th day after the New Year, which marked the beginning of the new path, we come to the Day Of Atonement.

At that point, on one hand we are truly in a state of complete despair and lack of strength, and on the other hand we experience great joy because we can now finally cry out to the Creator asking Him to help us with the complete confidence that He will help us. We have this confidence because we have already checked ourselves and reached the realization that we all dwell only in evil, unable to do anything about it. But now, by virtue of the connection between us, we have the confidence that the Creator is helping us and is just waiting for this very moment.

Baal HaSulam writes that “There is no happier moment in a person’s life than when he discovers how absolutely powerless he is and loses faith in his own strength since he exerted all the possible efforts that he was able to, but reached nothing. This is because precisely at this moment, during this state, he is ready for a complete and clear prayer to the Creator!” This moment is called the Day Of Atonement. From this moment on, a person can be sure that he will receive the Light of Correction.

From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/15/2010, “Yom Kippur”

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Our entire work lies in finding the right attitude to the states we receive. While doing this work, we gradually begin to break ourselves up into two components:

1. My desire, in which I perceive various phenomena, such as good and evil,

2. The mind, in which I discern Who sends me my sensations and with what purpose.

To the degree I am able to analyze my states independently of the sensation "good or bad," I am able to understand these states and justify them in spite of my sensation. I can desire them for the sake of revealing the quality of bestowal, the Creator, even though the revelation of every new state means that I will first feel suffering due to the revelation of a new, empty desire.

My attitude to this empty desire can change my sensation of its emptiness. The sensation of the goal, a connection with the Creator, can put me in high spirits that will greatly exceed my sensation of suffering.

That is why we have the opportunity to ascend above the unpleasant sensations in our intentions, in our sensation of the connection with the Creator. We can justify all of creation so greatly that precisely this gap will help us ascend above the unpleasant sensations and even elicit their revelation in order to ascend even higher above them.

We cannot change any state in our development, but we can ask for the understanding of how goal-oriented and good they are, above our will to enjoy.

That is how we can accelerate our development and go through the states of descent in such a way that we won’t feel they are descents, but a reason to ascend. Everything depends on our attitude to what happens to us.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/16/2010,  “What is the Matter of Sufferings in the Work”

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