Question: How are the right amount and the right quality of the exertion determined?

Answer: Now our efforts should be aimed at trying to see that everything is fulfilled and revealed within the connection among us, in the center of the group.

A person should feel this center of the general connection as an actual reality. After all, it is our first spiritual level. We should try to imagine this connection as hard as we can, in the form of a “crimson sphere,” or as some kind of a collective plate—as a place where all our hopes and expectations should be fulfilled.

It should become the most important and precious place in all of reality. Later we will discover that it is really the most important place, and that everything else are only meaningless results of what we discover in the center of our connection. What will happen in this center at any given moment will bring about an effect that will spread in every direction and influence the whole world.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/19/12, “The Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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Baal HaSulam, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”: … the truth is that the force itself is also considered a genuine matter, just as any corporeal matter in the concrete world…”

We say that spirituality is a “force.” Does it mean that this world is the matter? No, it doesn’t. A force by itself is matter. There is nothing but force. Contemporary physics arrived at the following conclusion: beyond atoms, particles, and photons, we don’t detect matter. Even when we use traditional methods of exploration of the universe and go deep down into the very basis of it, we discover that at the foundation matter “disappears” and actually works as a force. We are used to drawing a material picture of the world, but in fact it exists only in our perception, but in fact, matter is only a force, nothing more than that.

This force is divided into two categories (two desires): giving and receiving. Overall, the multiplicity of isolated forces outlines a kind of reality that Kabbalists call imaginary, illusory. It is realistic, but ephemeral, like a three-dimensional drawn in the air with a laser beam. And we live in it, and actually “come from” this “beam.” All of us are “painted” in space, and in fact, our essence is also a force, two desires and a screen that balances them.

These forces are receiving and giving desires that must incorporate and integrate with one another. But so much one of them dominates the other, and so that the resulting desire also has “access to power,” and cooperation, participation, understanding, shared common sensations all the way to love, when everyone is ready to give partnership, stay in mutual cooperation and understanding, share common sensations including love and be ready to give up everything they have for the sake of each other and at the same time they have to accept everything from others.

The receiving force has to achieve the same power of being as the power of bestowal, feel it, and develop accordingly to obtain qualities similar to the Creator. And for this it must go through special states that allow it to feel that it is alive and empowered to make decisions, to plan and to implement plans into reality. At this point, it is impossible to abide without an imaginary picture. This is where the illusion called “our world” in which the receiving desire prevails comes from.

Baal HaSulam brings an example of a coachman who used to live with his wife and children, earned enough money to keep his house properly, and was quite happy until his troubles began: His horse died, the house was burned down, and his wife and children died in an epidemic. As a result, the coachman appeared before the Higher Court where it was resolved that he would be paid for his adversity since he had suffered so much.

What was he given? He received a horse, a cart, a wife, children, and a house; the same feeling, which for him was happiness. In this “picture,” his life is again wonderful: he works, brings money to his family, and rejoices together with them. Everything is great! His desire is small, but for him it’s a real paradise where all is well and nothing more is needed. A perfect illusion.

Sometimes, we have dreams. How do they differ from reality? What if in a couple of minutes the alarm clock rings and wakes you up, and you realize that what you have seen was a dream? In fact, this is the way it is. So, what is the difference between a dream and the reality? How do we tell one from the other?

It is important to understand that our reality is “drawn” by a force and is granted to us to make our desire to receive feel independent, powerful, competent, and detached from the one who actually operates it. This is the only way to reach equivalence of form with the Creator. Otherwise, what kind of similarity would it be if I were completely under its control?

In fact, our detachment from the Creator is illusionary, and that’s why this world is called imaginary. On the other hand, spiritual realms are not imaginary, because that is where we are aware of the illusion, agree with it, and rise above reason. There, we work above our understanding, knowing that there is none else besides Him, agreeing with this more and more deeply. We are already working with a real force, despite the fact that we ourselves also are a force, and there is only force.

Question: If our whole life is just one, long dream, what practical conclusions can we make of this?

Answer: It is said in Psalms: “We were as dreamers.” Practically, I have to take this life seriously. It is given to me to rise above it, not to neglect it. Nothing should be disregarded. The current “picture” is drawn for me by the upper force, and until I complete the preparation period, I cannot get rid of it. I have to continue sensing this world until the end of correction; each time returning for new corrections. Even if I ascended to the 124^th level and all that is left is the last 125^th step, I still will return.

There is no other choice. This “basic infrastructure” is extremely important, since only by leaning on it we realize our choice. Thanks to it, at each step, it seems to us that we act independently and that we are equal with the Creator, and perhaps are even more powerful than He is. There is not the slightest chance to merge with Him without this sense independence. Otherwise, there is no “me”, the one who is able to merge with Him.

This is the way we work in this world. Let it be imaginary, we are aware of it, and then we accept it. We are starting to consciously play with our “independence,” and at this point, the fact that we are being governed by Him is no secret to us anymore.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/18/12, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy” 

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Kabbalists talk quite a lot about the “horde,” about the mixed forces that left Egypt together with Israel. This is actually the great problem that is standing in our way: the use of the Torah and the wisdom of Kabbalah not for the purpose of correction. Horde also refers to “those who fear God and worship Pharaoh.” On the one hand, they fear the Creator, but on the other hand, they wish to fill their egoistic vessels of receiving.

Question: What is the “horde” in my feelings, inside me?

Answer: They are revealed when you use what you acquire while you study the wisdom of Kabbalah for your own good and not for the Creator. Here you can say: “But in such a case all I am is the horde, I am all the evil inclination.” So what can I do if it’s still not a clarified state?

Actually it is about high levels. When the Light reveals my desires, I discover these parts in me. A man is a small world, so all the parts exist in each of us. Our work is to sort them out, to define them and to allocate a place for them, to cover them by the Masach (screen) and to know how to use them correctly. Just like a baby who learns to control his body, so do we have to control our desires: to cover some of them, to reveal others, and what’s more, to do it in the right time. A person behaves differently in different places and in different situations. It’s the same in spirituality.

But the moment I activate myself, I learn about the upper desire and about my desire; I learn to use different means correctly in order to resemble the Creator; I understand which “organs” I should activate in me and which not, in order to be called “human,” Adam (one who resembles the Creator), under different conditions, at different angles, and in every situation. I operate my “puppet” in order to resemble Him, and then internally I actually become Him. The “puppet” remains a puppet, and later when I acquire all His thought, there will be no need for it anymore.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/20/12, The Zohar

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Question: What does it mean that “by exerting yourself in the Torah, you are rewarded with the revelation of the Creator’s face?”

Answer: The Torah is the method for the correction of the evil inclination, as it says: “I have created the evil inclination, I have created the Torah as a spice,” I have also created the Torah as a means for its correction. I study in order to draw the Light that is concealed in the higher levels, the Light that Reforms that is in the Torah. After all, I hope that this Light will change me, that it will give me a new mind and a new heart, that everything will be so new that I won’t even recognize myself.

But the main thing about this new “me” is that the Creator will be revealed to me. This means that the force of love and bestowal will begin to control me. So in order to achieve this, I “exert myself in the Torah.” It isn’t in order to receive abstract knowledge but because I want to connect to the material that I study. To “know” means to arrange the connection.

Then the power of bestowal and love is revealed in me, meaning the Creator’s attribute through which I know Him, as it says, “from Your actions we shall know you.” We don’t know His actual essence, as we don’t know the essence of electricity, our own essence, or the essence of the air. We only know our impressions from these phenomena, which we call “electricity,” “air,” “the world around us.”

So the upper force is called the “Creator” (Boreh), which means “come and see,” a certain attribute that is revealed in me. I call this form that is revealed in my desire to enjoy “Creator,” since I “came and saw” it. My goal was to bring Him contentment by this revelation.

“To exert in the Torah” means to do everything in your power when you fulfill the Kabbalists’ advice: to study and to work in the group. The action itself is to gather the group and to organize the study in it. Everything else belongs to the intention. All this is called “exerting in the Torah,” according to the rules: “Don’t do unto your friend what is hateful to you,” and then “Love thy friend as thyself,” in order to reach the love of the Creator.

These principles not only describe the study of the Torah, but also the direction the whole creation is moving toward, all of the upper worlds and our world including everything in it: humanity, the still, vegetative, and the animate nature. It isn’t just the Torah that someone studies, but the trend in which all of creation is developing.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/19/12, “The Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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Question: What kind of exertion brings a person to a spiritual revelation?

Answer: A person’s feelings, thoughts, and experiences constantly change, and it isn’t by chance that it says that there is a clear and accurate law: “I have labored and I found.” The vessels and the Light can’t connect on the speaking level without our exertion. Exertion is the extra deficiency without which the Light can’t be revealed in the vessel on the speaking level, but only on the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature.

The reason is that first man was born circumcised (without desires to receive), which means that he was a holy animal, an angel. Thanks to the shattering of the vessels, the vessels that carry the essence of the Creator mixed with the vessels that are actually the essence of the created being. Thus, part of the Creator and part of the created being connect inside one vessel.

A person’s feelings, experiences, and thoughts change, but they don’t belong to him. These are the results of the game between the vessel and the Light that create these feelings in us. But by exerting myself, by trying to connect the vessels that are separate from one another by an abyss of mutual hatred, I seemingly overcome this hate and thus add my participation on the part of the vessel.

This is my exertion. Thus I judge both myself and the whole world to the scale of merit.

It turns out that the level of the speaking was not created from above. From above, we only received the level of animate. The first man, our initial soul, was an animal. But after the shattering, we receive very opposite discernments by which we can establish our own deficiencies. By our exertion we attain a new deficiency that didn’t exist previously, and this new deficiency is on the speaking level.

It’s different from the other deficiencies on the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature in this world, and which are not considered a created being in the soul. A created being is actually the deficiency we generate by our exertion! This deficiency wasn’t created by the Creator, and so it can rightfully be called a free, created being that wants to bring the Creator contentment. This is in fact a new desire, a new created being that was created by our exertion.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/19/12, “The Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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Question: How can we perform changes in the group together, so that we can advance?

Answer: We are committed to kindle the awareness of the greatness of the Creator in the friends throughout the day, just like the “burning bush” that is on fire, but doesn’t burn. About that, everyone must think and worry. Even if you succeed to hold on to this worry a few minutes more than the previous day, it’s already a meaningful addition. Don’t underestimate the small exertions, the “pennies” that add up to a big account. These are the additions that count.

Suppose that now when you are impressed, you decide whole-heartedly to advance towards the Creator’s greatness, even though your thoughts throughout the day about what’s important depend on the Creator and on the group, by this you already obligate the friends to encourage you to this: “I am asking you, evoke me as much as you can, ceaselessly, so that the deficiency for the Creator’s greatness will grow in me.”

And you should ask the same thing from Him. It’s only by that, through the group, that you can awaken yourself. Establish this inner demand during the lesson and by that create a deficiency inside you. It seems that the friends will help you only after you turn to them, but in fact your request from the group is your deficiency contrasted to the Light. Everything else was created as an “illusion.” The Creator is concealed in the group and is revealed there, but actually this is all your desire you work with all the time. The group is also inside you, although it may seem that it’s external. You evoke the friends in order to bring the external illusion closer to you, by becoming one vessel in which the Creator is revealed.

Question: So whom am I asking for help?

Answer: The society, since you can’t say that it is you yet. But imagine that “the society is the vessels, my desires, my part, which is separated, cut off from me.” There will come a time when you will demand that the Creator give it back to you, as it says: “It is my brothers I am looking for.”

So we have to make increasing daily efforts that should be felt more strongly and more clearly. You don’t know what stages you still have to go through, but you are advancing, until you feel that this whole vessel is yours, that the friends’ desires are your essence, that it is all internal. When you cease to see the friends on the outside, you will begin to feel them inside you, like a mother who feels her baby, even though he has grown.
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From the 4^th Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/20/12, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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Question: How can I give something that I don’t have, if I am totally in corporeality?

Answer: You don’t need to give anything! You should only know how to fulfill yourself. We are not required to give something that we don’t have. Indeed it says: “Love thy friend as thyself,” but we are not required to feel this love, we are only required to understand where we can fulfill ourselves correctly.

The problem is that we perform many actions in the wrong place. It’s like rain that falls in the desert instead of watering a sown field. Everything has to be in its place. If you sow seeds in the right place, in fertile soil that is irrigated, the crops will grow. But if you sow the seeds in the sand in the middle of the desert, nothing will grow from it.

Ninety percent of our exertion in this life is wasted on futile things. We shouldn’t even look in that direction, but we do…so the problem is not that we don’t have the power, but that we are wasting it in vain in the wrong place. That’s the whole point.

The place where we should concentrate all our exertion, except for our basic needs (food and family) is the group. If we invest all our energy in the group, we will advance as fast as possible. However, we scatter our forces and run in different directions. So we shouldn’t complain that we don’t attain any results. We have the power; we only need to focus it in the right direction.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/20/12, “The Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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Question: We need to connect in an inner form, in our desires. But how can I approach the desire of the friend?

Answer: For you, your inclination to the Creator is enough. Only with this inclination, without trying to dig deeper, do you connect. Both of you do not understand this desire that the Creator “planted” in each of you. But precisely this desire in the friend, and only it, is important for you. This is a subtle inclination from the refinement of the soul. You love the friend’s spiritual spark, his inclination to the Creator. His character and his customs are not important to you; it is only the Creator who connects you, because “in Him our heart will rejoice.” It is in Him. You want to meet in the Creator.

The other desires are connected in a different way; they remain in you and simply are searching for fulfillment together. But practically this is not unity with the other, but it is taking advantage of the other.

And we on the other hand, do not connect only between us. Light comes to us that bestows upon our desires, connects us, and dwells in us, in our connection. And then all of us together are glad that we gave the Creator the possibility and the ability to be revealed.

Therefore, for you, it is enough for you to have the inclination for the truth, for the Creator, for the goal. You yourself still do not know where you are going to, but the yearning exists already, and you need to always raise and care for it. How? By connecting with the friends. As a result of it, enough yearning will appear in you that the Light will correct you, will connect to a big single desire that in it you will reveal the Creator and will rejoice in it.

From day to day it will be clearer to you how to use all kinds of means in order to prepare yourself for the new state. You will not succeed in understanding it in advance, and you don’t need to demand understanding but the force of bestowal in “above reason.” Precisely by this yearning for bestowal above reason,” the knowledge will be revealed you and you will know.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/12/12, Writings of Rabash

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Question: We need to be directed by what we see; we need to use our senses, our knowledge, our reason. And on the other hand, there is the principle of “above reason,” and through it, the wisdom of Kabbalah expands the research of how one needs to correctly pass from their own understanding to rise above reason.

Answer: The whole upper world exists above our current knowledge, meaning, above the ego. In this manner, “above reason” symbolizes not for the ego.

By that, we are covering the gap between the levels. By revealing the new network of connection between all, we see it as the foundation of all the laws of nature. It is as if nature lies on this network, and we begin to observe its parts in fields, in mechanisms, that activate people. We are penetrating through such layers, which in comparison to them, the atom seems like a coarse thing. The intentions are revealed before us. The forces that precede the matter, that are activating the atoms, the waves, the light waves.

In our perception, we are passing closer to the beginning and we see everything in a new intention, in Ohr Hozer, in Ohr Hassadim, above our current knowledge.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/14/12, “The Peace”

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