Question: A “blessing” is the force of Bina, which comes from Above and raises the souls. Does the notion of a "blessing" apply to the relationships between friends or souls?

Answer: No, there is only support between friends or souls because I cannot give another person the force of bestowal. I can only help another with my support so that he may acquire this force from Above, the only source of strength and correction.

However, without the help of my friend in creating a common desire (called "MAN") for mutual connection and for revealing the quality of bestowal (the Creator), I cannot appeal to the Creator concerning correction. I myself lack the desire to appeal to Him. This desire needs to come from revealing the lack of connection between my friend and me.

Therefore, we have no choice but to reveal the states between us and raise them toward correction. In order for this to happen, I need to reveal these states as evil, sense the vital need to see them as good, acquire the force of faith, and be confident that I undoubtedly can make an appeal, that I have to Whom to appeal to and the support of the group.

Yet, this is only the case if I appeal with the force received in the group rather than on my own. Only if the group supports me, and we reveal the lack of connection in it, the breaking between us, then I use both its support and its breaking. In other words, I take all of the support towards achieving correction along with everything negative and appeal to the Creator with it.

This means that each of us appeals personally, but each appeal is made with what one took from the revelation of the breaking and with mutual guarantee. And with these two forces, one raises an appeal to the Creator.

Then this appeal is called “MAN” (Mayin Nukvin, the waters of Nukva). It has the power of support and mutual help, which they wish to express to each other, and it has the power of their desire to correct the breaking, purposely prepared for them by the Creator. It turns out they are what connects to spirituality, to the Creator since their mutual support is already a connection to spirituality, and the lack of fulfillment that they reveal is a lack of connection, the breaking.

On one hand, their MAN has the force of mutual bestowal and support, which they are willing to express to each other. However, they are still the Nukva, which is the revelation of the mutual breaking where there is no real power of bestowal. Then this works since they have what is needed to appeal to the Creator.

Nothing material pertains to correction, spirituality, or the breaking. Initially we don’t have anything spiritual that needs to be corrected because without revealing our broken relationships, we have nothing to work with. Spirituality begins with disclosing the breaking.
[21974]
From the 2nd part of the DailyKabbalah Lesson 9/26/10, The Zohar

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Question: Please elaborate on the type of connection in a family of which it is written: “Husband and wife, and the Creator (Shechina) between them.”

My Answer: This means that I want any connection between the two of us to be actualized through the Upper force, that I wish to regard my spouse as a partner given to me by the Creator. It’s just like Adam asked after his transgression: “Was it not You who had given me this woman?” Therefore, in a man’s attitude toward his wife dwells the Creator, and this is something we will yet reveal.

If a husband and wife are interconnected, this becomes a powerful means for revealing the Creator. It is a great fortune if a person is provided this field of work. And one doesn’t need a lot of time to realize it, only a few minutes a day. The rest of the time he has to devote to the group and the study.

Every connection transpires on its own level, but they are all united in that their sole purpose is to reveal the Creator. With respect to the friends in the group, we want the Creator to dwell among us. Herein lies the purpose in unifying into a group as well as a family. These are the different levels of connection with the same Shechina, and everybody who exists on the other side of Her (my wife, the group, the friends, and the whole world) are, in fact, parts of my own soul.

Regarding a wife, it is written that the Creator took a part of the man’s soul and made a helper against him. Similarly, the entire world is set against me as a result of the breaking as “help against me.” All this is part of my soul as well. Presently, I feel all this as external and separate from me, but thanks to the Shechina and the Creator’s presence, it all merges for me into a single whole. If I draw the Upper Light, the Creator, the middle line, He will unite all of it into one.

If we examine where the deepest and soundest connection is made – between a husband and wife, the friends in the group, all of humanity, or the entire universe – the innermost connection is found between a husband and wife.
[22126]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/28/10, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

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Question: How do I come to a state when I ask and concern myself with one thing only? How do I worry only about finding the place of the Creator’s revelation so as to delight Him and to yearn for it, both in the heart and mind?

Answer: Such a state is superhuman; it is above my nature. I am unable to achieve it, and I want nothing to do with it. I do not foretaste anything I would feel if I were to reveal the Creator. When speaking of preparing a place for Him, of bestowing to Him, I, as if, chase away all possible pleasures, leaving behind only a stale aftertaste.

So how do I change my attitude? After all, the place of the Creator’s revelation needs to exist in my desire. I need to wish for it in my very bones; I need to want to feel the Creator’s delight.

In order to make the object of my concern something opposite to myself, I have to change myself. And the Kabbalists say that there is a force in the world that can do that. But first I must prepare and make the request; I must perform the work that truly depends on me, not something superhuman, but work that is within my reach.

And so I begin the preparation with others like me, via the correct study and environment. Here, every action is within my power. The sensations may not be entirely pleasant, and I may be constantly searching, but I still find the fuel to advance.

I fuel myself with false states, primarily working off envy. When I look at the friends, I get jealous. They are better and smarter than I am. Perhaps some of them are already sensing the spiritual reality. Who knows, I may be sitting next to somebody who’s already there, while I am still mired in ignorance.

If we gather the means that the Kabbalists speak of,  try to apply them to our environment, and rise above reason with the help of envy, then we truly begin to correct the Shechina, the very place in which we will receive the Creator’s revelation for His benefit.

This feat is possible. I must merely carry out as many mechanical, tasteless actions as I can by lowering my head before the environment. In this “submission” to the friends lies the key to success.
[22041]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/27/10, “What in the Work, is Israel Who Exiled Divinity, is with Them”

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Question: How do I soften my heart?

My Answer: You can do it by working in the group, through the examples we show one another, and by the Light that we want to draw during the study. There are no other means. Don’t look for means of spiritual advancement where there aren’t any: in psychology, other methods, or sciences. The entire work is done in the group.

There are the friends, and there is the study. The more we realize the advice of the Kabbalists, the more “assets” we will accumulate. There is nowhere to run from the place of the breaking, the place of our interconnection. By locating it, we will reveal the full depth of the spiritual system’s breaking that exists only between us. It is also here, between us, that we must discover unity, the spirit of life, joy, and aspiration toward the goal.

There are no other places to look. The key lies in our mutual aid. I must learn from the examples of others and show them examples in return. We must read about it together. By distracting ourselves in searching for recipes other than what the Kabbalists have left for us, we will only increase our confusion. There are no other means than the books, the teacher, and the friends.

Together, we have to look for the opportunity to reveal our connection or lack thereof, to reveal the need, the mutual guarantee, the energy, mutual support, and the Creator among us. If we focus all our work and fixate ourselves only on this place, we will achieve the result very quickly. Either we surrender and retreat, or we finally make it through this narrow pass and reach the goal.
[21952]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/26/10, “They Helped Everyone His Friend”

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Question: How should I relate to my wife to feel the Creator between us?

Answer: Try to make all the interactions between you happen only in order to reveal the Creator between you. This guarantees you absolute peace at home and is useful for every person even out of purely egoistic interests.

This is a very effective means and it correctly orients a person toward his entire life. The group and the friends are still an artificial structure for him, all of humanity is perceived even farther away, and the universe is felt as completely distant. One’s wife is the closest thing to him, as it is written, "A person’s wife is like his body."

On the other hand, you suddenly reveal that you have a partner in every regard! The Creator lets you start to feel that against every movement you make, she also makes a movement. No matter what movement takes place – in the mind, the heart, or a physical one, a synchronous movement takes place against it. It’s as if the Creator glues together two separate parts in all the details and forms as He becomes revealed.

All we have to do is try to reveal the Creator between us, the force that unites us and that we want to attain as a result of living together. Otherwise this entire life will be a mere animalistic existence.

Together the two of us desire to reveal the force of unity between us – the third component which completes us so we will become as one! When He unites us into one whole, we will include Him inside us and will be one whole precisely because He is inside us and fulfills us.

This is called "Husband, wife, and the Creator between them." He is present in everything that exists between them. There is nothing other than that because the desire of each person is aimed at the other. It’s like the relationship between Zeir Anpin and Malchut: He is entirely aimed toward her, and she toward him.

The Creator set apart all the particular Sefirot of Malchut and made Hava (Eve) out of them. That is why there is a precise correspondence between Zeir Anpin and Malchut along the entire height of a spiritual Partzuf; they are on one level, one against the other in eternal, unceasing union.

Neither has any qualities that are not present in the other. However, the only way to attach them to one another is by the Light of AB SAG, which comes and connects them by correcting one of them toward greater bestowal and the other toward greater reception. In order to unite, they both ascend into Bina, which is called Elokim, the Creator, and He gives them the force of unity and then fulfills them.

They don’t fulfill each other, but their shared desires. That is how a "child" is born, being a result of the union. It is the following spiritual Partzuf, a new state, described by the verse, "The father (Aba) gives the white, the mother (Ima) gives the red, and the Creator gives the soul." The Creator is between them, and by fulfilling them He gives a soul to the new level.
[22122]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/28/10, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

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Question: What is the meaning of the term “line”?

Answer: A line is a scale inside me where I build all the inclinations, thoughts, desires, and attitudes in a straight manner. Everything that is now being revealed in me, in my Kelim, becomes built in accordance to the Light that comes to me.

If there is a clear, precise agreement between the Light that now shines on me and the vessels I put in order according to the Light, this means I am built according to a line. That’s because inside of me there is a heap of qualities and the Light that comes to me helps me build myself along a line. Previously I was like a sphere, and then I asked the Light that comes in a straight form to shine inside me in the form of a line and to put me into the same order.

The Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) shines all around. When I ask it for corrections that are built as a straight line, the Light becomes “stretched out” into a line, as do I in conformity with it. This transition depends on whether a person is able and willing to demand this structure from the Light. The Light’s action lies above knowledge, but if a person receives the force to overcome, if he bestows and gives himself over to the Light with full agreement, then the Light orders all the components of his soul according to their importance.
[22102]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/28/10, “What is Silver, Gold, Israel, the Nations in Work”

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In the News (from Telegraph.co.uk): Ask Jeeves, the British Internet search engine, has published its Top 10 unanswerable questions that have bothered humanity during the last decade. Here are my answers to them.

1.  What is the meaning of life? In getting to know the source of life, the Creator, through which we find eternal life and its meaning.

2. Is there a God? No, there is Nature or the law of equivalence to the Creator, the property of love and bestowal.

3. Do blondes have more fun? Because they are dumber?

4. What is the best diet? Eat like animals do: what’s good for your health.

5. Is there anybody out there? Yes, there is, but at a higher dimension, in the will to bestow, contrary to the corporeal life which is lived in the will to receive.

6. Who is the most famous person in the world? For each person, it is his parents.

7. What is love? Fulfilling the desires of the other person.

8. What is the secret to happiness? To give instead of taking since then you are unlimited and happy.

9. Did Tony Soprano die? I don’t know who he is, and it doesn’t matter to me anyway.

10.  How long will I live? The point is to attain eternal life before this one expires.
[21841]

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Question: It is written that we have to be joyous on Sukkot. What does that mean?

Answer: Joy is an effect of attainment and unification; it is joy from bringing contentment to the Creator. There is the World of Infinity, the vessel of the Creator, which is empty. I fill the Creator through the group, and this act of fulfilling Him causes me to feel joy.

At first, I felt empty and demanded fulfillment from the Creator. However, thanks to studying with the group, I realized that fulfillment comes solely from fulfilling the Creator. I am filled with bestowal to the Creator in the same way as a mother is filled with joy when her child is fulfilled.

Ultimately, it makes no difference to me whether I give or receive. The goal is to be fulfilled which I can achieve solely by way of fulfilling Him. When I fulfill Him, I fulfill myself. However, if I fulfill Him for self gratification, it is egoism (Klipa, shell); it’s similar to working for a reward.

However, if I fulfill myself in order to fulfill Him, it is bestowal (holiness). If I fulfill Him in order to fulfill myself, it is reception (impurity).

Diagram: Impurity: 1-2) I fill Him, 3-4) in order to get filled myself. Holiness: I) I raise MAN to Him, II) to make Him fill me, III) so that by filling myself, IV) I could fulfill Him.

In either case, we are both fulfilled. Still, everything is determined by the intention: For whom do I perform these actions? If there is love between us, the more I get filled, the more I fill Him. In our world, there are no other models for this than a mother and her child. [21803]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/22/10, “The Agenda of the Assembly”

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Question: You explained that at each of the 125 degrees of ascension, the desires (the left line) and the Light (the right line) are pre-set for us in advance, and that we rise to their degree by connecting them correctly. How is this realized in practice?

Answer: There are two forces in nature: the force of bestowal and the force of reception (“plus” and “minus” or the right and the left lines). Both of them expand from the Creator, and my job is to construct the middle line from them.

The left line is to receive and the right line is to bestow. I need to connect them by placing “resistance” (R) or a “motor” (M) between them. I connect them, and then they work sustained by my effort (R or M). The result of my actions (the working resistance or the motor) is regarded as the “soul” or “human.”

Suppose I have constructed within myself a human at the first spiritual degree. Now, I am facing the next one. What is the difference between the “human” of the first degree and the “human” of the second degree?

I have to increase “faith above reason” (bestowal over reception), create a screen that connects us all together, arrange the Kli (vessel) in equivalence with the Creator, and draw the Surrounding Light that will help me build the screen (the connection between the right and the left lines).

The desire with the screen has to be equivalent to the Light. The amount of reception in the left line has to be equal to the amount of bestowal in the right line. If I achieve this, I ascend to a higher spiritual degree.
[21754]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/22/10, “The Agenda of the Assembly”

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Question: Can despair extinguish my spark of spiritual desire?

Answer: Of course it can. I’ve already given way to despair in this world, and I’m no longer consumed with the earthly desires. Meanwhile, there is a “spark” that shines within me. It’s the awakening from Above that brings me to a teacher and a group.

Between my despair and the spark emerges a tension, a vector, a force of desire that is caused by their difference. I don’t know where it is directed exactly, but it is already a subconscious direction towards bestowal.

This Kli is already aimed upwards like a dipole (a pair of charges with opposite signs). To use my desire correctly, I place it in the “magnetic” field of the group. In this case, the group’s forces aim my dipole and move it in the direction of the goal, the quality of bestowal and love.

The environment, the group, has powerful poles: a big disappointment with this world and the importance of bestowal. To the extent of my connection with this field, a common desire, it influences me and carries me along to the goal.

Particles (dipoles, charges, particular desires) are powerless by themselves. To empower and accelerate them, we build accelerators. In the same way, the group (the common desire) blows up my spark of desire into a big fire. The principle is simple: I join the community and make my road to the goal quicker and easier by means of the common desire.

When I join the group, I am taught how to become absorbed into this field, this common desire of bestowal and love. I receive more than just a desire from the environment because I’m not in a regular egoistic society, but I am surrounded by Kabbalists that want to reveal the Creator in their common field of desire of the Creator.

I draw closer not only to the group, but to the Upper Giving Force that is concealed in our common desire. This is why in return for my efforts to unite, I receive from the environment the power of the Creator: the Light that Reforms.

The environment that one builds responds to his efforts with the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif, OM).

[21668]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/21/10, “Who Testifies for Man”

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