Question: Now we all are rallying around a sick friend. This is evident: thousands of people, men and women thinking and worrying about him. Together with this external expression there is also great internal work that is similar to a prayer in a way because it is very easy for us to hold on to this thought.

Answer: We affect the system we are in by our desires and our intention. All of mankind, everything that is on this planet and beyond it in different forms are elements of this system.

Thus we insert a special signal into it that is focused on one of the elements returning to its minimal balanced human existence. We affect the system this way so that it will have a positive effect on our sick friend. This is a very strong signal. If we keep on working this way, we will see an amazing outcome.

We don’t know and are not aware of the whole system, its plan, and its intentions. We don’t know each one’s fate, meaning each one’s role in this system, but generally speaking, we have to affect it as much as we can so that our friend will be equal to us.

We have to feel the problems of all the others and totally annul them so that we will have no more corporeal or spiritual problems other than attaining complete harmony among us since we are the only ones who are disturbing the harmony of the whole system. This is the reason that we have to summon this state in which the influence of the upper force that operates it is clearly revealed.

The system itself cannot reveal the upper force in it since we are its corrupt element. We have to spur the positive forces that will affect and correct us (in this case, our friend) to match the general harmony. Then we will feel the nourishing upper force in this system that evokes and directs it (the Creator). If we bring the whole system to the state in which the Creator is revealed, then through it we will be able to be in full connection with Him.

Thus our friend is an element that invokes us so that we will connect more strongly among us so that our desires and demands of the Creator, of the whole system, will be collective, identical, and accurately focused. Thus through him we learn how to be connected.

I hope that eventually we will see that he fully recovers. It depends only on our efforts.
[145455]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/08/14, Shamati #5

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Question: The prayer of many is a unique prayer. Is it derived from a state where from the start I am ready to accept the concealment of the Creator upon myself?

Answer: The great Kabbalist Baal HaSulam asked the Higher Power for the ability to describe the Kabbalistic method for the simplest people. He was ready to descend to any level so that he could convey this in a simple language.

This is the same thing that we are doing today with our dissemination; we are continuing the same movement. This is compulsory for all of humanity. Even more than this, how can we talk about bestowal if we are thinking about how we rise, instead of thinking about how to carry out the desire of the Creator, about bringing the whole world to the Completion of Correction?

Soon you will have the opportunity, either as one person with a number of people to be involved with higher Kabbalistic levels and rising in the spiritual levels, or not rising in the levels, but on the contrary, even to descend but to bring this to people. Questions of this type will appear within you. And you will see that there is no other way except dedication. God grant that this is the time!
[144725]
From the Convention In St. Petersburg “Day One” 9/19/14, Lesson 2

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Question: From what state is prayer born? Is it within absolute darkness when I have no enthusiasm and I understand that I cannot connect with the friends, or must there be some enthusiasm about this unity and connection, or must I reach the extremity of the limits of my ability, when I cannot connect with anyone, and from here the intention appears?

Answer: Neither the first, the second, or the third. Prayer is called a desire that is inserted into the system, summoning movement within it. As a result of it, the system is changed and rebuilt, and you rise one level higher. It could be that you don’t feel this, but you get advancement. An operation like this on the system can only exist when you ask for the others.

Question: But I am an egoist. How can I ask for the others?

Answer: You try mechanically, pretending as if you are asking for the friends. Be imbued with this, that they are around you. Even your experiences will be mechanical and false; this is not important. Above a lie like this, which is called “receiving for myself,” Lo Lishma (not for Her name), the Light will come in every case and begin to correct you. Actually, it is no lie; rather it is your true state. But if you, like a little child, try to play at being in the right state, then you will grow properly.
[144563]
From the Convention in St. Petersburg 9/18/14, Preparatory Lesson 2

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 Question: The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) is the most significant day of the year for the people of Israel. What is the spiritual meaning of this special day? How should we relate to it in order to correspond to its spiritual roots and to transfer our life to a new degree?

 Answer: The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) is not simply a tradition. It reflects a special spiritual state in a person’s development. We shouldn’t look at this day separately, but as a part of the entire year’s cycle.

Upon the completion of a year, that being a cycle of internal changes, we evaluate everything that we went through, which is called “repentance.” Thus we decide that it is necessary to rise to a new degree, to begin the new year (Rosh Hashanah), cross to a new state, a higher, purer, more exalted one. So we crown the Creator, the force of bestowal and love, setting Him up to reign over us as the most sublime property.

This is when we begin to judge ourselves: are we truly in the property of bestowal? All our properties are divided into ten parts, ten Sefirot. And we are clarifying which desires in those ten parts can be corrected, and which cannot.

In essence, a person’s soul needs to be corrected. And a soul is all our desires, which are still corrupted and need correction.

 Question: What exactly needs to be corrected: one’s actions or the soul?

Answer: In our world, actions are performed with hands and feet, or through words. But the wisdom of Kabbalah explains that most important is a corrected intention, which is the true desire of a person.

Actions alone aren’t enough, because I can perform them simply out of habit. Then, it is actually more difficult for me not to do them than to do them. And these can be the actions that I otherwise would never have made in my life had I not been accustomed to them from childhood.

In this case, it is no longer fulfillment of a commandment but traditions instilled in childhood that are performed automatically. For someone it might be difficult to carry them out, but for someone else, it is difficult to not do them.

This is why we are not speaking about an action, but rather an intention. An action, after all, does not change: As we have been doing it, so we will continue. But in intention, in a person’s attitude towards the performed action, there is always change.

The key is a person’s attitude to those around him. After all, love for one’s neighbor as for oneself is the great law of the Torah. This is the point of view from which I need to check myself in order to see how much I am capable of loving my neighbor.

The upper force is a force of bestowal and love, and our goal is to become like it. This is why we need to reach the degree of man, Adam, which means similar to (Domeh) the Creator. But how can we check this? Where is that doctor who will irradiate me with an X-Ray and tell me exactly how similar I am to the Creator?

Such a doctor does not exist, so a person needs to check himself on his own. This kind of X-Ray machine requires a special Light, which checks us. This Light is called the Light that Reforms.

If I am studying the true Torah, namely the wisdom of Kabbalah, then thanks to it, I start to see the truth. I see how egoistic I am, what exactly is it in me that is bad, and what needs to be corrected, as if I shine an X-Ray on myself.

This is only visible to me and others may not notice it. And after I have seen myself on the X-Ray image, it becomes clear to me what needs to be corrected. The Torah arranges this image where I only see intentions, and only to the level of the depth which I am capable of correcting. Everything else I do not see, and it can remain until the next year.

Immediately after the onset of the new year, I find myself in these X-ray sessions, which are called ten days of repentance. I irradiate my heart, clarifying my intentions with respect to those around me in each action, and get back these images.

Kabbalah explains that Malchut ascends to Bina and compares herself to it. Malchut is our egoistic desire, which rises to Bina, the desire for bestowal, clarifying the extent to which it differs from it, how far we are from caring for our neighbors, from good relations, and how we are only thinking about our own benefit.

 Question: What is shown on these X-ray images?

Answer: This image is black-and-white. It shows how much white there is in you, that is, the intentions for the benefit of your neighbor. And the black color points to the intentions for your own benefit, which you can correct.

Thus, the scope of our work is revealed to us. This is personal work that is in store for each of us, but it is aimed at the commonality, at bestowal to all, and through them, to the Creator, which is from the love of the created beings, to love of the Creator. The Creator is a force, integrating everyone together, and not something that exists outside. It is written: “The Creator dwells among his people.”

Thus, if I strive to unite with everyone and want to turn into one whole with them, then I reveal the overall integral system that generalizes our unity, which is called the Creator. This is how it is revealed in our perception.

Therefore, during Yom Kippur we need to strive to love our neighbor as much as possible and wider, and even beyond the people of Israel, extending it to all mankind. This is the reason why during Yom Kippur it is customary to read the story about the prophet Jonah, whom the Creator instructed to lead the city of Nineveh, which symbolizes the world, to correction.
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From the TV Show “The New Life” #438. 9/30/2014

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Raising a prayer to the Creator means raising our best, most intense and vivid desires and aspirations, aiming them upward as we lift our hands upward.

In this case, we connect them so that everyone finds himself immersed in others, feels himself only in others and, in this state, chooses the deepest and most important thing.

A “prayer” means our only desire from which other desires are revealed. We strive to unite the desire to reveal the unified force that governs the entire universe in the whole of nature: the forces of harmony, balance, and interconnection.

We wish the same state for ourselves, the group, the country, the world, and all of humanity. This is our intention and our effort. Constant intention is the prayer of want we want eventually to receive.

In the future, we will transform this in the following stages. We will see how our desires for unity become realized in the desire itself. Usually, when a person strives for a goal, he thinks that he wants to achieve it, but in our case, it turns out that, being in intention, we suddenly will reveal that this is the goal, and nothing else is needed. This aspiration creates the condition with which the upper becomes fulfilled. That is what is happening in us and within us.

In order to become more concentrated with each other, we will have to go back to this demand and strongly wish to formulate everything more deeply and sharply. It is formed in us in this way.

This constant aspiration itself is the goal. At the beginning, we think that this is only a condition for achieving something, and then we will see that it, itself, is the goal.
[144082]
From Preparatory lesson 1 of the Congress in St. Petersburg 9/18/14

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The first thing that you need to understand thoroughly is that all the evil of egoism is revealed only against unity. Only this is called the evil inclination in man.

Secondly, all this evil is already in us and only comes out. So do not worry, huge deposits of egoism are still hidden within us.

On the other hand, we should bless for all the bad revelations, as for the good one. After all, it means that this evil is initially hidden within us and we ought to be happy that it is revealed because in this case it can be corrected. As it is said, “Look at them and turn them into a pile of bones.”

If we weep together over our evil, then it is good. If we correctly ask for “forgiveness” for it, then we reach its correction, that is, we rise to the next degree—we come to the king, the beginning of the New Year. We proclaim the Creator as the highest, as the reigning, as the cause of all that is happening in the world.
[143905]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/7/14, Shamati #23

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Question: Is there any chance that a person who studies can succeed simply by the power of inertia ? He doesn’t leave because corporeal life doesn’t seem attractive either, but on the other hand, he sees that the wisdom of Kabbalah is too much for him and he cannot believe that he will ever reach the revelation of spirituality.

Answer: It is impossible to study with the power of inertia. Every moment in our life requires our energy. Therefore, if a person studies, it means that the Upper Light operates on him and sustains him. He probably has to go through this period. There are such periods in which a person becomes like a corpse, a lifeless body: He cannot live in the corporeal world anymore, but he hasn’t started living in the spiritual world yet.

Question: It seems that one can wander on the border of the spiritual world for years and not reach a request, a prayer.

Answer: No, that depends on you; it depends on the environment. Believe me, I speak from my own practical experience. The preparation period cannot go on forever, no state goes on infinitely.

Every moment you exist and somehow get closer to the spiritual advancement, the Light operates on you and fills you with the spiritual force drop by drop, like an intravenous infusion. But it has to accumulate to the right measure and therefore it takes time.

If you want to reach the spiritual revelation sooner, hasten time. But it cannot be that your measure will never be filled; there is no such thing. On the whole I have to know only one thing: How to connect the group with the goal.

I want to eat some soup and I am told: “Get a bowl!” But I have no bowl, so what can I receive the soup in? The bowl is the group. If I am not incorporated in a group, I have nothing to receive spirituality in. I have to tie the group very tightly to the attainment of the goal, to the revelation of the Creator.

We still think and hope that there is some vessel where the Creator can be revealed somewhere inside us. But there is no such place in a person. There is only one black point that cannot receive any revelation. But still, drop after drop, the Light operates on a person and he gradually begins to tie his success with the connection, with the friends.

This is already a great accomplishment; it is a switch from the earthly, corporeal individualistic path to the spiritual ladder. You already begin to subconsciously tie yourself to the group. You get closer and closer to it, and the moment the first contact, the first connection, is formed, you enter the spiritual ladder. This is called the ladder of spiritual ascent.
[143548]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/11/14, Shamati #56

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Comment: When our friends in Sochi went out to disseminate, the rest of the people who didn’t go out arranged a “mirror” workshop, carried out the same activities and discussed the same questions. We did this as a support for our friends; we tried to be with them as a single whole.

Answer: Your concern for the success of your friends is the main thing. You created an atmosphere for yourselves that you can only dream of. What can be more spiritual and more useful for attracting the Upper Light?

Wherever our friends go out to disseminate, we are concerned for them. We feel them.  Make it so that everything will succeed for them! We are ready to give everything, only so that they will succeed. There is nothing higher than a prayer like this. Certainly everything will work out for the best for them!

If we create such a state at the Saint Petersburg convention, or in whatever other circumstances, then this is destined to succeed from the start! So, you have grown! It is called the “prayer of many” (Tfiflat Rabim) when I pray for my friend. Believe me, there is no need here for anything else!
[143003]
From the Convention In Sochi 8/25/14, Lesson 1

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Question: If my friend is in a difficult situation, what must my prayer be? Must it only be about him or about the whole world?

Answer: In cases where you don’t know how to behave and you have no clear discernment about how to act, and even in those cases where you seem to know how to behave, you must consult with other friends. You are part of a large collective and you don’t have the right to act and behave on your own, as your mind or heart tells you.

You are a small cog in a large machine, and you must realize that according to this general mechanism, you alone cannot insert new relationships into the work. It is impossible for a person to act according to the principle, “That is what I decided, that is what I suppose, and that is what I will do.” In such a case, we will remove you from our machine. Even though our mechanism will become smaller, it will work in partnership.
[142676]
From the Convention In Sochi 8/25/14, lesson 2

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We have to apply maximum effort to reach the goal we aspire to and in doing so get prove that we are unable to reach it. Then, we have to check if we are going in the right direction and whether we can possibly ever get the chance to attain it; then by employing our intellect and sensations we will realize that we will never be able to achieve this goal on our own and need the Creator’s assistance.

We should accept the fact that only the Creator is able to give our entry into the spiritual world, to realize our spiritual birth, to transition us from our mother’s womb where we are separated to the state of connectedness. During birth, we pass through the narrowest place that connects one world with another; that’s the place of the initial connection among us that happens at the minimal spiritual level. Are we able to achieve this or not?

If the answer is “yes,” then let’s do it, if the answer is “no,” let’s demand the Creator to do it, one of the two. Let’s make an immediate decision and execute it quickly rather than waste time!

As a rule, the evil inclination whispers into our ears with “promises” of tremendous success waiting for us “next time”; it tells us that we haven’t yet achieved all that we were capable of, we haven’t read enough or learned everything that we could have, and thus there are plenty of things that we still have to take care of.

This is how we acted for many years; we acknowledge that as a result of the influence of the group we began to realize that we are incapable of breaking into the spiritual world and we call for the Creator’s help.

This is the time when we start to scream and ask Him for His help, and this is the right direction because we do not possess the power of bestowal but only retain the force of receiving.

The group’s influence will provide everybody with the understanding that only the Creator is able to build a system of connection among us and unite us. We demand that it happens and strongly disagree with our egoism that invites us to continue working independently. There is no reason to continue acting the old way; our environment can influence us in a way that we will arrive at such a decision.
[28649]
From the lesson 11/12/10, “Letter 57,” Baal HaSulam

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