Question: If there is no reward and punishment in this world, where do they exist?

Answer: There is reward and punishment in our world, good and bad people, and everything else that you see and understand. It is written: “The world behaves according to fixed laws.” Within the scope of our world, each society, country, and civilization has their own laws.

If you come to a kindergarten, a school, or some adult establishment, in each place you’ll find specific laws of communication and reward and punishment for their observance. Wherever you may end up, there will be a charter of laws for a group of people, whether a society or a nation.

But with respect to profits and losses concerning the spiritual world, your corporeal actions have no bearing on the spiritual degree. They affect the soul’s future reincarnations, but not on the Creator’s revelation to the creatures, the revelation of the spiritual world, which is described as “see your world in this life.” And, as the Torah explains, a person who has only performed corporeal actions is considered to have done nothing at all.

We study that your only free action in this world is the exertion to unify in the group; all of your other actions are not yours. We are evaluated only with respect to choosing the best environment every time so as to achieve the purpose of creation.
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From Lesson 2, World Kabbalah Convention 2010, 11/9/10

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Question: When we cross the Machsom (the barrier separating us from spirituality), do we do it together or each of us in our time?

Answer: The Machsom is a potential border. If I aspire to unity with the friends and from separation between us yearn to reach greater closeness, if I try as much as I can to annihilate this distance, but am unable to do so, then I appeal to the Creator, the Light, and break through the Machsom. In other words, my ego remains, but I wish to rise above it despite the fact that at the previous stages, I didn’t especially desire this and was accepting of its presence in me.

This is how it was before the Machsom. However, above it, there are two forms of connection: “to bestow in order to bestow,” the level of Bina, and “to receive in order to bestow,” the level of Hochma and Keter.

Where, then, do I realize the Machsom? I do so in the connection between us. In it, I am not subject to our external actions concerning each other and expressions of personal likes. Here, I need to work solely within.

I have to feel an inner ability to bond with them within myself, in our desires, so that all our sparks of bestowal connect together. As soon as I start desiring it, I cross the Machsom. Yet, all our egoistic attributes remain. After all, we haven’t corrected our ego, but rose above it, eager to unify our passionate desire for spirituality, the property of bestowal.

If our sparks of bestowal are bound together, they form a vessel for the Light of Hassadim (Mercy) because such a vessel already has the attribute of Hafetz Hesed (presiding above one’s egoism). That’s when a person starts perceiving the Upper Light ruling over everything there is.

Below the Machsom, the same Upper Light fills the entire reality, but we don’t perceive it. As soon as our points in the hearts begin connecting, in a bond, density, compression between them I suddenly start feeling the Light that permeates everything . However, the sparks had already “found” the Light and become its “gauge.”

We are now in the same condition, and we don’t need to zoom into another dimension or other galaxies. The Light resides between us, and we just lack sensitivity for it, an organ of perception. The closer our hearts get, the more we discover the Light that dwells among us. We arrive at this in mutual bestowal and desire it to take place.
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From Lesson 2, World Kabbalah Convention 2010, 11/9/10

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Question: Where and how Arvut (mutual responsibility or guarantee) is described in The Zohar?

Answer: The Book of Zohar describes it as follows:
שהשפעת ו״ק דחכמה, הנוהגת בקו האמצעי, מכונה עדות, which translates as: Expansion of small illumination of the Light of Hochma that occurs in the middle line is called testament. In other words, when a person develops a capacity to arrange the three lines, the Light within him holds him in spirituality, bestowal, and this is what guarantees that a person will not fall into egoism ever again.
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Question: If there is no one besides me, then why do I have to come to the Convention, unite with everyone, and love them?

Answer: You have to start perceiving the true reality in your sensations. Therefore, you have to come and see that we all do exist, and you have to perform all actions so we would “cease to exist.”

Question cont.: But you said that there is no one else here.

Answer: But it is me who said it! And you have to reach such an attainment on your own. You have to prove it for yourself that there is nobody here except for Malchut of the World of Infinity.
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From Lesson 6, World Kabbalah Convention 2010, 11/10/10

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Question: What greater evil should we disclose within in order for the Light to illuminate us?

Answer: We must come to see that our innate nature is Pharaoh (ego) who does not allow us to rise above ourselves. We ought to hate it, but we still love it; we keep enjoying living in it. When, similar to our present predicament, we start receiving blows, we become disappointed in our nature and understand that we cannot reach spirituality.

So, for the first time, we got to see our nature as the evil inclination, as our rival who is the opposite to the Creator, spirituality. This is regarded as the first plague of our Pharaoh.

As to the other nine plagues, I don’t think we will need another nine such conventions. We will be able to undergo them in our mutual connection on daily basis during our lessons. We will pass through them quickly because the key at each spiritual stage is its first degree.

Later on, it will all be just a routine until a certain stage is completed. For example, right now, we are to become aware of our own evil, and we have started this process. Next time, it will be the escape from Pharaoh, exodus from Egypt, and this is what is called spiritual birth.
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From the Lesson on the Weekly Torah Portion 11/12/10

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Question: A lot of newcomers mentioned that on the second day, they had neither the strength nor the desire to come to the Convention. However, having arrived, they felt that a warm wave of love suddenly engulfed them. What happened to them?

Answer: That was a so-called “sweetening” which occurred even though we have not yet reached a perfect state. The fact is that each line also consists of three lines. Although we have revealed only the left line, it, too, has the left, right, and middle lines within it. That’s what swept through them. In other words, the second day of the Convention saw a revelation of the right side of the left line.

Question: Many people told me that they felt something special on the third day of the Convention. They don’t know what it was, but it completely changed their inner perception of the event.

Answer: True. Although the middle line belongs to the left line and despite the fact that we have not yet attained revelation, this line still brought us a certain illumination from Above. That’s why many people felt so.

However, we shouldn’t overestimate what happened; it was, after all, a very small illumination. Together with our core group, a lot of new people also attended the Convention, so it was a bit difficult. Nevertheless, we reached a very significant change in the way we are progressing. That, by the way, was an actual entry onto “Jacob’s Ladder,” just its left side, however.

After all, we have only come to the recognition of evil, realizing that we are unable to attain spirituality in our own selfish desires, that it goes against our nature, but we do not know how to break it yet. Still, that was already a beginning, and from now on, we will be able to use completely different concepts.
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From the Lesson on the Weekly Torah Portion 11/12/10

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Question: Why do the descents make a much bigger impression in our sensations than the ascents?

Answer: It’s because we are egoists. We were created out of the will to enjoy, which experiences pleasure or suffering. There is no middle between them, and therefore even when I am in a neutral state where both pleasure and suffering are absent, I feel bad. I lack pleasure. I always demand a positive; zero is not enough for me.

That is why a person is dissatisfied. He has a home, a job, and plenty of food, but something is still missing. Either the grass is greener on his neighbor’s side, or life is devoid of meaning.

Our egoistic desire is not satisfied with what it has. As a result we suffer from the lack of an addition, and this addition must definitely grow as our egoism grows.

Besides, our source is the Creator, who created us. He is the only, single, and irreplaceable one, and every one of us feels the same way. So where can we find fulfillment for someone who is so unique?

That’s why it turns out that we never find satisfaction, not through pleasure, nor through the right self-realization. That is the nature of egoism. The smallest descent is enough for all of our heroism to vanish into thin air. We would agree to anything just to avoid feeling empty inside!

The desire for pleasure depends entirely on the Light. As long as it receives Light, it is full of energy, even though it doesn’t understand where that energy comes from. But as soon as the Light grows slightly distant, you feel helpless and would agree to anything in order to correct the situation in some way.

Look at the world: there’s terrorism, murder, theft, and lies. It would seem that if you gave every person what he wanted, no one would do anything bad. So who’s to blame? It’s the Creator, who does not reveal Himself and thereby evokes bad things. All that remains is to make the right conclusions from the above.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/16/10, Introduction to the Book of Zohar

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Question: How can we find the strength to advance because as time goes by we feel greater opposition and less strength?

Answer: That is wonderful! If you feel less and less energy, it is help from Above so you wouldn’t think that you can do anything at all. If you feel greater opposition, this is also help from Above so you would see that you will never be able to break through on your own.

This is help! Pharaoh, the Egyptian King, the ego, the evil inclination, is opposite to the Creator – the reverse side of Him. The Creator deliberately creates this image for you. Your entire nature, your egoism, is a reverse mold of the Creator. The Creator inserts Himself inside you and acts in a way that stops you. He does everything! There is none else besides Him.

When we say that “There is none else besides Him,” this does not mean that I exist and someone else exists opposite me. I also don’t exist! All the forces inside me that act for and against, that are good and evil, are all Him. And who am I? I am the point of discernment. I only discern what is for and what is against. From His two forms I discern with whom I desire to be.

The Creator is an actor that plays all the roles; he alternatively clothes into good and then into evil. It is how you play with a small child in different ways so he would learn to differentiate one thing from the other and understand what he should be like. He will learn about good only to the degree he attains evil.

Therefore, if you feel heaviness now, it’s the Creator who makes it happen. If you feel that you cannot do anything on your own, He gives you this sensation. Why? So you would turn to Him.

If I want to teach a small child that he has to turn to me for help, then I deliberately act in a way that prevents him from accomplishing something in order that he will need me. That is how we act in the relationships between us.

Suppose I want you to become my friend and to respect me. In that case I do something behind your back so you would feel that even though you do not desire it, you will not succeed without having a connection with me. You suddenly understand that I am great, that you have to respect me and ask me, and now you know that I am great and you depend on me. I have arranged your life so you are left with no other choice but to come to me and ask for it.

That is what the Creator does to us. Of course, He is not motivated by the egoistic intention to trick us, but the desire to teach us and raise us to His level, the best state, since He is called “Good who Does Good.” However, He acts precisely in this way, creating all kinds of misfortunes, problems, messes, and confusion constantly in the world, in all areas of life and in all the worlds so as a result you would desire to come to Him, to ask for help and this way to come closer to Him.

Then you will desire to become the same as Him. When you look at someone who is great, wise, or powerful, you desire to become the same. It’s not enough for you to just receive from Him; you want to be in His place. This is exactly what the Creator does to us.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/16/10, The Zohar

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The Zohar, “Introduction to The Zohar,” “The Night of the Bride“: There is a book of remembrance before the Creator about the sins and transgressions taking place in the world. For He needs them for the day when He will perform a miracle (Segula).

Question: What is Segula?

Answer: The Upper Force, or the Creator, or the Light, is inside the group. I can receive corrections only if we study the primary sources together with the group.

This is Segula – the special means, the works of Kabbalists, which make it possible to unite a person, the group, and the Creator into one whole. Their unity is possible only on the condition that the system they are in is used correctly.

Even now we are part of it. The worlds and Partzufim are all here, but in order for them to come through we have to evoke the influence of spiritual forces upon us. Desire alone is not enough. We need a means that will set the system in motion so it will start working on me through the group.

The system is set in motion with the help of the primary sources. That is why we study the works of Baal HaSulam, Rabash, Ari, and Rashbi. Without this I cannot establish a connection with the spiritual system and set it in motion.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/15/10, The Zohar
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Question: I try very hard to cross the Machsom (the barrier separating us from spirituality), but Pharaoh always wins. At a certain point, I lose faith and unite with the group only out of habit, not genuine aspiration. It makes me angry. What shall I do now? Ask the Pharaoh to let me pass to the Creator?

Answer: No, you should beat him. He hates you and does not let you pass through to the Creator. He is standing between you two.

You should understand that the Creator Himself has put Pharaoh before you. In order to develop a strong and correct desire in you; he placed a special obstacle on your path. This obstacle, your egoism, Pharaoh himself, “sculpts” you, forms a new type of striving, a new and mighty aspiration to the spiritual world out of you. If not for Pharaoh, you wouldn’t search for spirituality. You would desire corporeality, assuming that it is “spirituality.”

However, Pharaoh straightens out this lack of correspondence. You exert pressure, he gives you blows; you exert pressure, he gives you blows, again and again. Due to these beatings he shapes the clod of your desire into the desire to bestow (Tzura Melubeshet Be Homer).

As a result, you, like a key, fit the lock precisely, and the door opens. This is why it is said, “Pharaoh draws the sons of Israel (those who aspire to Him) closer to the Creator.”

We think that there are bad forces in nature, but in reality, it is not the case. When the property of bestowal will reign within me, I will discover that there is no evil, and all negative factors were called to form out of me the desire to bestow. They are all help from Above. As soon as I assume the form of bestowal, they will have no reason to pressure me any longer.

We just need to understand how to work with these forces. The faster we do, the sooner we will acquire a new form and will be born.
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From the lesson on Rabash’s article 11/12/10

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