We listen to the advice of the Kabbalists about the proper way of organizing ourselves in different situations and states in order to receive the maximum influence of the Light that Reforms.

This is why we carry out different artificial, material, egoistic actions according to the principle of “We shall do, and we shall hear!” And this advice works.

But Kabbalists cannot obligate us to perform acts of bestowal. As we work with our egoistic material according to their advice, we want to attract the unfamiliar force of the Surrounding Light so that it will influence us and transfer us into a new state.

And at that moment when I begin to change, I begin to act in a different manner, with a new mind and a new heart. We work according to this chain: advice -> a wonderful means -> a new calculation.

This is why, when working with students (both children and adults), one needs to search for activities that will attract the maximum Surrounding Light, and this will have the best outcome. And, if it does not work, then there is nothing that can be done. All we can do is ask for correction, raise MAN (prayer): I want an inner change!

Everything that comes from above is a consequence of the influence of the Upper Light, which we cannot touch. It pertains to the “secrets of the upper governance.”

We attract the Surrounding Light by studying the primary sources. And if adults read the texts of Baal HaSulam, it is enough for the children to have a discussion about these articles; for example, a discussion on “Body and Soul,” “Perception of Reality,” or “Freedom of Will,” discussing their connection with some physical or chemical laws in our world. Make it entertaining, in the form of a game. By doing this, we will attract the same Light.

We need to explain the mechanics of changing a human being to children. They perceive it as facts and begin to use it. Gradually all of this will become stored in them.

Working with children differs from working with adults. It is written that teaching a child is like writing on a clean slate. A child’s matter understands everything naturally so they accept everything they hear from adults as the truth.

This reflects the between the root and the branch. When we perceive someone older than us, we perceive all of his words as obvious facts. And we need to use this property that children have in order to fill them correctly instead of that with which our egoistic world stuffs them.
[28086]

From the lesson “Body and Soul” 11/29/10

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Question: Baal HaSulam said that a person must act practically in order to awaken a love for the Creator in him, but why is it so difficult to do so? Why is there such an inner resistance?

Answer: The fact is that the moment you fall, you not only cease to feel the love for Him, but  you also lose the connection with the Creator, and so it seems to you that the Creator has left you.

The truth is that His love is absolute and infinite, but the concealment on the part of your ego is increasing every day and every moment, so you don’t feel the love inside you. The point is that you forget that it is a result of your inner cooling off, and you think that it is the Creator who has left you.

Therefore, you cry out, “Why have you left me!” However, in fact, no one has left you. On the contrary, the Creator has given you a chance to discover Him even more, by yourself. This is the difference between religion and the wisdom of Kabbalah. A religious person prays to the Creator asking the Creator to do everything for him, while a Kabbalist prays to the Creator to give him the power and the means by which he can correct something.

Question: Does the idea of awakening the love for the Creator mean awakening the love of friends inside me?

Answer: It is impossible to do it otherwise. It is only through the love of friends that you can reach the love of the Creator. As it is written, “From the love of man to the love of God.”
[141798]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/19/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: We have done great external and internal work in dissemination. What do we lack in the group in order to reach greater unity between us so that we will be able to reveal the Creator?

Answer: There is one word that replaces absolutely everything: prayer. I rarely speak about it because prayer should burst out by itself.

It is the feeling that you are totally dependent on the Creator and that He is the only one who manages you: whatever you think and feel, whatever you ask for and receive, everything except for the one point of turning to Him, although that also comes from Him—when you thus connect to Him and still want to do something external to Him in accordance to what He does for you—this is called a prayer.

This should be our common state because then it will focus on Him. But it comes from each of us separately and it is focused on the opposite direction. This is the point of recognition that you cannot go out of your way and with that you turn to the Creator so that He will unite all our points together, melt them and connect them into one drop.

I hope that we will recognize and understand that we need this prayer.

The force that destroyed us on purpose and has created all the conditions for the recognition of the oppositeness from the Creator is also the force that will correct this state of oppositeness and will give us a sense of the Creator.
[141363]
From the talk at a meal at the Toronto Congress, 8/4/14

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Question: How can one consistently be in inner work, in inner prayer, to pass toward unity?

Answer: It is impossible to be consistently in inner prayer. Even the greatest Kabbalists went through great descents and ascents, and the higher that a person is, the greater his descents. So, it is necessary to understand that this work continues until the completion of correction.

We correct the general shattering of the Kli, and it is natural that the greatest shattered states are the strongest. In fact, the more complex shattered states are microscopic. First, we simply don’t pay attention to these contradictions, and, after that we reach a state such that our sensitivity rises all the time. We begin to be involved with our states in that we receive them with great sensitivity.

With great Kabbalists, all kinds of changes are made with great regularity because they are correcting themselves all the time, and the imprecision seems immense, great, to them, and this is the work of correction! This is life.

Every time you feel that you are working on the next level and, after that, on the next level, and so forth. The problem is not that as if you have come to work, have obtained a position, for example, that of a clerk, and begin to rise on the organizational ladder higher and higher. Here, internal work is done in your spiritual collective with the Creator. Indeed, the work on this connection gives lots of different discernments, but it is the same.

The great Kabbalists describe this in their writings. At first glance, it seems that very extensive material is found in their writings, but if we sort them, then there is nothing unique here. It is always talking about desire, about Light, and  the connections between them.

So, what is required of us is only the right intention.
[141004]
From lesson 4 of the Convention In Sochi “Day Two” 7/14/14

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When we go out to disseminate, and more generally, throughout the entire day, we must wholeheartedly worry about the strength of our unity. This is the only thing determining the strength of the Light, which passes through us to the nation of Israel and to the world. It’s like we’re trying to hold something up, afraid to let it fall lest it break. We constantly hold up unity because the Light will pour forward only through it. This is mutual guarantee.

Otherwise, our words will remain empty sounds. What does it mean to unite? To sit and hug each other? To talk about it? We have been talking about it for years, but is it of any use? Does each of us have to be up against the wall, with a gun pointed at him, to feel the need to unite?

To you, “uniting” means sitting and talking about how important this is. But I don’t enjoy sitting and I don’t enjoy talking about it.

Question: So how can we overcome these final millimeters between us? We feel indifferent, disunited, and repelled by one another. Every person sits in his own corner, in his own niche, with his own thoughts and plans. But we don’t want to go back, so what should we do?

Answer: You need a cry, a prayer.

You need to understand that there will be no forgiveness, no second chance. If you want to attain success, then now’s the time. And if you’re not up to it, then you’re better off going your separate ways. At least that way you’ll know for sure that you’re on the wrong path and have no part in the correction of your soul.

In such cases, words are useless. When a person feels real love, he doesn’t talk about it. People don’t parade the thing closest to their heart—they hold it in secret. That’s why I cannot go out shouting about unity. It’s a different matter when you talk about it scientifically, although the emotion cannot be expressed since it lies much deeper.

In any case, you now have a unique chance and it is up to you to implement it. On my part, I have given you everything and cannot do anything for you. The ball is in your court. If you step back now, the future of Israel and your own future will come under the upper verdict…

There won’t be any other time. You have always waited for time to do its work. But it won’t. Baal HaSulam said in this regard: One who rejects the moment will realize it years later. Right now we are simply obligated to work 24/7, upholding the unity at every moment. There’s no other option. This must be our personal and common, single objective.

Forget about me. You have everything you need, so take action, if that’s what you want. And if you don’t, then I have nothing to add. There are things a father cannot do for his son. The ball is in your court now. Everything is up to you.

What’s important is not the materials we hand out or the conversations about having to unite. This has to be conveyed sincerely from heart to heart. I hope you will accept this and feel it deep down. I hope you will attain prayer, a cry and mutual support. Good luck!
[140912]
From a Talk “The Importance of Dissemination” 8/3/2014

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In the News (from Huffington Post): “Underscoring the close ties between Christianity and Judaism and calling Holocaust denial “madness,” Pope Francis told an interviewer that ‘inside every Christian is a Jew.’

“In a wide-ranging interview published Friday (June 13) in Spain’sLa Vanguardia newspaper, the pope said dialogue between the two faiths can sometimes be a ‘hot potato.’

“’I believe that interreligious dialogue must investigate the Jewish roots of Christianity and the Christian flowering of Judaism,’ Francis said. ‘I understand it is a challenge, a hot potato, but it is possible to live as brothers.’

“Francis’ statement seems to go further than his predecessor, St. John Paul II, who made headlines in 1986 as the first pope to visit Rome’s main synagogue and declared Jews to be the ‘elder brothers of the Christian faith.’

“’Every day, I pray with the Psalms of David. My prayer is Jewish, then I have the Eucharist, which is Christian,’ the Argentine pontiff added.”

My Comment: Undoubtedly, the further development of humanity towards the purpose of its creation will lead people to distance themselves from all religions and faiths of the world. They will increasingly begin to feel their common spiritual root, which is not clothed in earthly images and representations that religion and beliefs impose on them.

This will lead all people of the world to feel that only Kabbalah expresses the true representation of the higher force. In this aspiration to become close to it, they will come close to each other.
[139650]

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People who have a spark, a particle of the higher nature, don’t correct themselves like all the rest of the seven billion people, because through this spark, we can connect to the source of the Light, to the source of bestowal, to the power of bestowal.

This means that we include two systems within us: a system of reception and a system of intention, meaning bestowal. In us, there is a desire that is directed toward ourselves. Besides this, we have a point within the desire, a spark that can be developed into a separate system.

If we develop this spark into the system of bestowal, in other words, if we acquire an intention to act for the good of others, then our deeds will be unimportant. They will always be under the control of the intention for the sake of bestowal.

It follows that this intention for the sake of bestowal will determine all of my deeds and behavior. It doesn’t matter if I receive from others or give to others physically in this world. My intention always will be determined so that all of my deeds are intended for the good of others, and this always is more important than my own good.

Part of the collective soul that works according to this program belongs to the head of the spiritual Partzuf. Through the Light, we can create thoughts, actions, intentions, and plans that are truly for the good of others, and I will use these beyond personal benefit. All emotion and thought, strength and understanding, I put into service for the good of others. I am adherent to others and do everything for their good.

Such changes are possible only through the Light that Reforms. For all seven billion of mankind, the Light only reveals how much they are connected to each other, and then they stop doing evil to each other and become one body, which is still egoistic. All of them act for their own good as one family.

We must make another connection between us where our intention will be entirely for the benefit of others, as it is written, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” It is not that I just don’t harm others, knowing that, through this, I cause myself harm. I don’t look at this at all as to whether this will come back to me in some way. Rather, I think and act only for the benefit of the other person, without checking how this will affect me for good or bad. This is called working above my ego. This is working with faith, in other words, bestowal.
[139598]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/13/14, Shamati #60

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Writings of Rabash, “Shlavei HaSulam“, 1986, Article 15, “A Prayer of Many”: Therefore, he prays for the collective. This means that if there are a few people in the collective who can reach the goal of Dvekut with the Creator, and this will bring the Creator more contentment than if he himself were rewarded with nearing the Creator, he waives himself. Instead, he wishes for the Creator to help them because this will bring more contentment above than from his own work.

If a person doesn’t join the collective, he has nothing to turn to the Creator with. After all, the Creator doesn’t feel individuals, He only feels the collective.

This is why we have to go out to the public and why we have to connect. Everything belongs to one system, and it is impossible for one part to work when other parts do not.

During human evolution, our work was performed parallel to our waiting. Kabbalists who wrote The Book of Zohar concealed it for two thousand years until our days. All the parts of the Bible they wrote about, the Torah, the Prophets, and Scripture still had to be developed.

But we are a special generation, as Kabbalists say, and we have to perform a practical correction both inside the group and outside the group, among the public. The relationship between the members of the group, the group and society in general, between the individual and the collective, is the only framework where we can raise our request.

Even if every member in the group asks for it, we cannot advance unless our request is incorporated into society’s desires. This is the only way the Creator will listen and feel us. After all, the Creator is the general force, the Upper Light that has created the whole desire to receive. Therefore, it only feels all of its parts together. If we regard Him that way, as a whole desire, then we will be able to convey our deficiency to Him and ask Him for correction or for revelation. Only through the collective can we formulate the correct request that He connects.
[139335]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/13/14, Writings of Rabash

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Question: How can I work with myself if I feel tired from the effort to remain with the right intention because I don’t get any pleasure or results from this?

Answer: Of course, a person is not ready to do this. The group must support him. It is up to us to find an action that on the one hand we are ready to carry out, meaning that our desire to receive makes it possible for us to do it because it sees some kind of benefit in it. On the other hand, as a result of the benefit that we get within the desire to receive, there must be something that will change us.

For example, I bring some medicine for my sick child. For him this is candy and for me this is a medicine. For him this is “yummy” and for me it is a cure. Why? Within his desire to receive he swallows and enjoys it for he has the strength to swallow. He gets pleasure within his desire to receive, and together with this, he gets a medicine.

So, the Torah is called an “elixir of life,” “health to all their flesh,” a medicine that we take in this form. This is called the “clothing of the Torah.” So it is up to us to be creative and wise, not opposing our nature, but understanding it and recognizing how it is possible to fool it so that on one hand our ego will see the purposefulness in a particular activity. On the other hand, if I act with joy, I also get a portion of the Light that changes me. So the next time I will already want to perform an activity that is a little closer to bestowal.
[138442]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/23/14, The Zohar

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Question: How can we properly raise a prayer to the Creator?

Answer: I begin from the current animal state, immersed in my egoistic desire, and from there I make the first efforts, although I don’t know exactly what I have to do. First I begin to move, listen to advice, and try to formulate my prayer, my appeal.

At first I don’t ask correctly. I ask for things that don’t lead to correction, but by that, I still force myself to turn to the Creator and I realize that I am not my own boss.

Then I establish my attitude to all of reality: It turns out that even the questions are not mine nor are the problems, the answers, and the decisions. They all come from above; everything is sent to me by the upper force and everything stems from one source.

Eventually I stabilize myself correctly with regard to the upper force—the one unique and special force—according to what it is and what I am at the moment.

After I stabilize myself this way, I am in a more or less right direction, on the right track that I have stabilized by myself; together with the group, while studying and disseminating, I have formatted myself as much as I could.

Then on this new basis, I ask for help. My request isn’t directly aimed at bestowal yet, but it is enough.

After all, the Light that Reforms illuminates me from Above. Once it dwelled in my corrected soul, and then it left it as a result of the shattering and now it is on the outside. I summon the influence of this Surrounding Light and it invokes the state of the shattering in me or in other words the shattered Reshimot (reminiscences).

When they are awakened, I have a new desire, which is deeper and more real. The arrangement of all the parts of creation is revealed in it and I see how everything is connected and that everything has to be corrected. This is how the Creator arranges my prayer and the right desire in the right direction in me.

Two kinds of Reshimot are revealed to me: Reshimo from Light (Hitlabshut) and Reshimo of thickness (Aviut). The Reshimo of thickness reveals my shattered state to me and the Reshimo of Light relates to a higher level.

This gives me the direction. If, for example, I am in a desire of zero thickness and discover the Reshimo, the Light, of the first level, I understand where I have to come with my vessel (Kli). Thus, the Reshimo of thickness indicates its next level, a new depth. I yearn for the Light not the way it is, not for its revelation in the vessel, but for a vessel of bestowal on the first level. This is how the work with the Reshimot is performed.

Thanks to it, I reach the true desire and it depicts a new picture for me: I am in a certain reality trying to feel it, to imagine it, as clearly as possible in a perspective of bestowal, and now I ask the Creator to fulfill it.

Just think about how long we have been talking about the preparation for a prayer, a preparation that in itself is called a prayer. The Creator divides our appeal to Him into these two parts and additional phases appear in each of them.

We actually don’t need anything but this appeal. I appeal to the Creator in the most accurate manner and advance thanks to these appeals. We cannot advance without the appeals. Those who don’t place themselves in this framework of humanity, the group, the center of the group, and the sources, and don’t attribute them to the Creator, don’t close this circle, and don’t do what they are required to do. In the meantime, the Creator performs His work only after our appeal, and we finally establish the right way to Him.
[138426]
From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/20/14

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