The weekly section of the Torah, “BeShalach” tells us how Moses sent the spies to the land of Israel, the land of milk and honey, where wonderful special fruits grow. Suddenly they saw that giants lived there, who didn’t allow them to get in and to get near those fruits.

This means that in order to conquer this land and to discover the greatness of the spiritual world, they have to fight against very big egoistic desires and gradually overcome them. But a person doesn’t have the power to overcome even the smallest egoistic desire, to dominate it and to conquer it. He needs help from Above in order to do that.

The question is how should he ask for it, since a person has no confidence in anything. He thinks: “What could I reach for? In any case it is impossible!”

It turns out that the fruits are wonderful and the land is actually paradise, but there are giants every step of the way, and they feel like ants running around under their feet that could be stepped on without the giants even noticing.

It says that the spies took a bunch of grapes that could only be carried by eight people together and with great difficulty, which shows how heavy it was. It is indeed so because a person weighs himself and understands that he cannot overcome these obstacles and that he really needs help from Above.

Thus the people begin to complain: “Why has God brought us to this land?” A riot is about to start in the camp of Israel: “Let’s pick a leader and go back to Egypt.”

After having been through so much and having attained so much, they discover that they are dealing with the upper force that leads them in life, that the target has been set and everything is planned, but if they stubbornly refuse to accept it they will die in this desert! Indeed a totally new generation arrived at the land of Israel.

Why did everyone die in the desert? It is because they didn’t have enough power to advance and were thus doomed to die. The Torah says that every year on the 9^th of Av they used to dig graves for themselves and lie in them. Those who died died and those who could rise from the grave kept on advancing.

Thus was forged new generation that was brought up in the desert and were not afraid of anything until they reached the borders of the Promised Land.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/15/15

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In the News (Epoch Times):“According to a University of Princeton study, an emotion or a thought that several people share simultaneously can affect the physical reality. Our thoughts can be powerful not only in the ideological sense, but also physically, and a thought that is shared by several people is very powerful.
“According to the findings of the study of human consciousness in the 90’s carried out at the Princeton lab (PEAR), the human mind can influence a generator of random numbers. Such experiments have raised several questions: can people’s emotional response have an effect on a destructive earthquake, on a massive terrorist attack, or on the feelings of football fans, etc.? Can the shared joy of people during a special holiday influence our electrical appliances? The clarification and analysis of these issues indicate that there are deep subconscious relations between people even if they are not physically connected.”

 My Comment: The wisdom of Kabbalah allows us to reach a collective conscious influence that is purposefully focused on the world. There is no other method, and therefore the major principle by which we can attain this influence over the world is “love thy friend as thyself.”
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Question: If I don’t feel the Creator, can I tune in to you as the goal, since you and your goal are clear to me?

Answer: If that suits you, then you can tune in to me. Actually, I devote all my life, all my time, to studying and teaching, and aspiring for the Creator and helping others do the same. Basically, each one of us needs to do that.

But in the wisdom of Kabbalah, the teacher cannot be the standard because his inner life, his inner development, is not known to anyone. What we see is only his external movements that function on the physical level, the animal level.

For example, the religious Hassids imitate their teacher, “Oh, our Rabbi loves to eat that, and dress like that, and we do the same.”

Of course, this is not a basis for imitation. You don’t receive anything through that because in everyday life I live and exist according to my physical (animal) body. I operate according to what my body demands and according to what doctors advise. I listen to doctors and listen to my body.

There is absolutely nothing here that is connected to the spiritual world. All of spirituality exists deep within and is inaccessible to the eye and to imitation. Thus, there is no reason to look at me.

Think about each one of us reaching the goal. If each one will begin wanting his friends to reach the goal, then that will be the “prayer of many.”
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From the Lesson in Russian 2/7/14

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Question: For some time great Kabbalists lived in Russian cities: the Baal Shem Tov, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, and others. Did this influence the spirit of Russian Jewry?

Answer: Without a doubt, students of the Baal Shem Tov lived in every city. The Baal Shem Tov first began to apply the wisdom of Kabbalah that the Ari revealed in the 16^th century. He taught this to his many Kabbalist students, those who attained the highest level in the system. Their role was to arouse inspiration in the people, to correctly elevate, stabilize, and lead them forward. This was the idea of restoring the spirit of the people, which they had already lost at the time of the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash (Temple), when they fell from the level of mutual love to mutual hatred. So the need ripened to raise the people from the egoistic level of rejection, to the altruistic level of mutual love.

The Baal Shem Tov established what was called Hassidism, practical Kabbalistic work. But it is necessary to say that the Hassidism of today is much different. The Baal Shem Tov changed the study of the Ari to bring it closer to the people and show them them inner correction. In this way, he implemented the general rule of the Torah, “Love thy neighbor as yourself.” The people were then able to leave both spiritual and physical exile, because one is connected to the other. But if a person was not ready for spiritual redemption, he also would not attain physical freedom.

So for two generations until the 18^th century, the Kabbalistic current that was called Hassidism prospered. In every village and settlement, there were people who were involved in attaining the Creator on the basis of the right connection between them, which is what the Torah requires. In this way, Judaism became spiritual, and many people appeared who became teachers. At the same time, opponents of Hassidism appeared, but no matter what, both groups began to rise spiritually and this played an immense role in influencing the environment.

Around that time, opportunistic people began to appear, which changed everything and replaced the popular current so that they were no longer involved with the attainment of Torah. Instead, they simply carried out the physical Mitzvot (commandments) with some kind of slightly greater inner aspiration, but no more than that. This means that Hassidism fell to a lower level. But until the end of the 19^th century and in spite of all this, there were still a multitude of Kabbalists who felt the higher world, the system of management. From this, they taught others. This very strongly influenced the spirit of Russian Jewry and was rooted in them forever. So the continued discovery of the spiritual world, the discovery of the soul, the feeling of the upper world, and the entire system of discovery of the Creator as the higher force of management, pushed, and today still pushes a large part of the Jews of Russia towards true spiritual attainment.

Among my students today, it is possible to find many from the former Soviet Union and Russians still living in Russia. Even today, the spiritual potential that was inserted into them by the followers of the Baal Shem Tov still lives within them.
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From KabTV’s “About Our Life” 5/07/15

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At all times until today, humanity has the same structure of a Rav (teacher, guide), a group of Kabbalists, and all the rest of humanity. All of the work advances according to the explanations of the Rav, and the group carries them out. First, there is connection within the group, and only after that is it possible to disseminate it to the rest of humanity, in circles.

But the method remains the same method, includes the same stages, and makes it possible to realize them only on condition that we elevate the Rav. Of course this is not talking about the external form as in other doctrines. Rather, it is about realization of the advice of the Rav about how to reach adhesion with the Creator. This is called honoring the Rav, for he is on a higher level than we are. We honor his direction, his words.

When we build the right relationships between us; in other words, we realize the Torah to the point of realizing its main general rule, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” we advance. And as much as we diminish the greatness of the Rav in our eyes, we fall.

In addition, to the degree that we raise or lower the greatness of the Rav in our eyes, accordingly we are found in ascent or descent. So, it is said, “A student that is exiled—he exiles his teacher with him” (Makkot 10a). It is up to the student to know that the assessment of the Rav, the assessment of the method, and the way of correction depend completely on the assessment of the importance of the means for attaining adhesion with the Creator.

Also, when the student works on the greatness of the means, accordingly he can attain the goal, which is the greatness of the Creator, the greatness of the characteristic of bestowal, love, and connection. All of this depends absolutely on the work on the greatness of the Rav and the friends. We attain the goal within the connection between the friends who build the right network of connection and a detailed understanding of all of the parts of the connection. If a person is not ready to bestow upon his connection with the friends, but succeeds in integrating into it and rising above his ego, this is called Ibur (conception), the state of the embryo.

In this state, greater and greater internal resistance to connection is constantly discovered, which is called a fetus, and each time he must nullify himself regarding the role of the group, regarding its greatness, and regarding the greatness of the Rav, and thanks to this, he continuously develops until all the stages of conception are completed. After that, there is the period of feeding (Yenika) when he is prepared to receive and to give, to participate more actively in connection, feeling how practical and true it is. That is how he finishes the feeding years and reaches a state where heavy, receptive vessels are awakened in him. Then, he can participate actively in the work, building new connections, clarifying and creating the characteristics of bestowal and love, which is called discovering the Creator among the friends.

This form begins to be clarified more and more all the time. In the beginning, it is only through the Achoraim (posterior) because it is impossible to see the face of the Creator until the completion of correction, and after that even the face of the Creator will be revealed, meaning that bestowal and absolute love will be revealed among us within the corrected vessels.

All of this will happen only on condition that the person values the Rav and the group and works on their greatness, trying to move through the ascents and descents. If he succeeds in ascending, he is immediately given a descent, adding another layer of the desire to receive so that he will rise more and more.

Only in the connection between the friends is it possible to see the entire field of work, the place in which the condition, “There is none else besides Him,” is realized—meaning the Light, the form of bestowal, and the general rule, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself,” which is the vessel. Everything is revealed only within the group that is directed to the Rav.

It is written, “Love of friends is enough for us,” but “a student that is exiled, the teacher is exiled with him,” this means that if the student succeeds in rising above the exile and contempt for the Rav and the group, then the love of friends completes all of his shortcomings. All corrections are included in the love of friends.

If we succeed in keeping our attention within the area that is found between us—which is what we must fill with bestowal, with love and mutual help, so that “from the love of man to the love of the Creator”—to that degree, we advance. The main thing is not to forget that all of this is revealed within the connection between us.

All of the levels of the characteristic of bestowal that we acquire—Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya and Yechida—must be discovered among us, and the more we come closer to one another, we ultimately discover the high totality in the connection between us that is called the Creator. His form is the level of Keter, Yechida in all states. If in each and every state we reach the last level, Yechida, then we feel the presence of the Creator.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/26/14

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Question: What should we do if we understand the greatness of the teacher, the greatness of the group, the greatness of the friends, and the greatness of the goal and still cannot overcome our inner resistance?

Answer: No one can overcome his own resistance by himself. It is a natural state and it cannot be otherwise. None of us has the strength; all the power is only in the group. There are a thousand zeros and if they don’t see the greatness of the teacher and the Creator as one whole, if they don’t place them above themselves, if they don’t connect to the idea that comes from Above, they will never change from zeros into one.

Everything depends on where you place your zero:, before or after the one, which means to what extent you value the group and the teacher. It is impossible to advance otherwise because it is all part of the method of connection.

You have been brought to the group and have been told, “Take!” This is your only free choice. If you want to, you can use it and realize yourself. If you don’t want to use it, you will not succeed. If you complain that you cannot overcome, it means that you already understand that you cannot achieve the goal by yourself. No one can do it by himself.

On the American dollar bill, for example, there is a picture of an eagle holding 13 arrows. This is the symbol of the power found in connection. Once the Indians showed the American president how easily a single arrow can be broken, but when they took several arrows and tried to break them they didn’t succeed. This symbol has remained on the dollar bill ever since.

One person cannot fulfill the attribute of bestowal. He doesn’t have the necessary power to do so. We speak about bestowal, but whom do you bestow unto, whom will you help and who will help you? You need at least one more person since the minimum of many is two.

You have received a group and all the necessary conditions that no one ever had in the past. There have never been better conditions than those we have today. The whole world is shattered and there is no goal or ideology as there was fifty or a hundred years ago when ideas of capitalism, socialism, and communism flourished. Humanity has run out of ideas and everyone worries about himself. The separatists want to divide the world into hundreds of states and each one escapes to his corner. This is what the modern world looks like. We, on the other hand, claim the opposite: that the cure, the remedy, the correction is only in connection.

I don’t see any obstacle that can stand in our way of advancing forward. We are surrounded by unprecedented care that comes from Above. Those who have engaged in the wisdom of Kabbalah throughout history never had such good conditions as we have today: you have friends; you have a method according to which everything is clear and straight forward.

If you remain idle and cannot commit yourself to work, it is a sign that you are disconnected from the group. We have to examine the place of the work between us together and fill it with our efforts. You have to exert yourself!

You have been given every possible opportunity: a new building [in Israel], dissemination via television and the Internet; so what else is missing for you to make your effort in the connection between us? Why don’t you join us?

Comment: I always had lots of strength and suddenly it is gone…

Answer: If you have no strength, ask for power! There is a prayer before a prayer, but we have to start from something. We have to act even though we have no strength and no desire. We are being treated mercifully from Above; in fact, we could have been afflicted by some Dinim (judgments). Then we would all come to study out of fear looking for advice to escape from the impending trouble.

But we are allowed to develop mercifully, like a spoiled child whose parents allow him to drive them mad and continue to love him and give him everything. What more help do you need? You cannot be given anything from Above if you don’t have a desire and don’t make even the slightest effort.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/26/14

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I understand where the inner resistance to dissemination stems from. Our ego prefers to sit in its place and simply read and listen to the teacher telling it something interesting instead of going out to disseminate.

This is all very clear. You don’t want to disseminate and you don’t even want to connect with the group. You would rather sit, study, and live peacefully and not run about anywhere. You think that this is much more suitable for your soul.

But the teacher who tells you very wise and interesting things also has some strange ideas, since he is asking you to go out, give lectures, speak to people and perform certain actions with them. You think that all this isn’t for you and that it has nothing to do with the wisdom of Kabbalah, which has always been concealed and studied quietly and secretly.

This is where the wisdom of the crowd comes in. The wisdom of the crowd means that you don’t want to do something according your mind and heart and cannot do it, even if you understand that you have to since it makes sense, even if Baal HaSulam and Rabash write that you don’t want to do this and every cell in your body resists it!

This is where you have to clarify things: Do you recognize that this is the advice of Kabbalists, despite your reluctance and endless excuses? Kabbalists say that it is an essential condition in our days: Baal HaSulam, Rabash, and your teacher say it is so. Your faith in the wise is determined when you annul yourself and perform the actions that they direct.

You will never agree with them on one thing or another. There is no way you will agree with your teacher as to the spiritual work because he always tells you about actions that you have to perform against your ego, which naturally seem to you unreasonable and undesirable.

This will happen over and over again and even if you agree to it theoretically, you will not accept it in practice and will try to evade it anyway you can, as long as you won’t have to do it. Your body will refuse to obey you.

The spiritual teacher is a person who is one level higher than you and who shows you where to put your hand, where to put your foot, and how to move your body so that you can ascend to the next level. This is because you don’t know how to get there or where to place your hand or your foot in order to reach a higher level.

It is like being on one side of a swamp trying to get to the other side. There are stepping stones in the swamp that are hidden under the water that you can use to advance and step to the other side. But, you cannot see these stepping stones. If you take a wrong step, you are lost and the swamp will immediately swallow and drown you in your ego in this life.

The teacher tells you where you should step each time and you must believe him. Otherwise, you will not be able to cross and will drown in this swamp. This is called faith in the sages. A person who tries to advance in this manner can cross the swamp. Of course, a person has endless doubts and it’s true that he acquires faith in the sages gradually, then exits himself and operates according to a higher mind.

This is how you can cross the swamp, and whoever follows this path can cross it. You need more luck than brains here.
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From the preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/14

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Question: I don’t understand how I can connect with others if I don’t understand what this is. I can’t find any means for this within me.

Answer: You don’t have any means, but you have a teacher who tells you what you should pay attention to, and it is up to you to carry this out because the teacher knows that now it is time.

If it were not for the teacher, you would never reach this. So two levels exist, and there must always be a higher level that directs you upward. From your level, you cannot know where “north” is.

It is time for us to speak more about connection, and from day to day this is discovered more clearly. Some kind of thought about correction cannot appear in your mind unless you are a special soul, like the Ari or Moses, with a special role.

Question: So what depends on me?

Answer: How you make the efforts regarding connection depends on you. You don’t understand what this is, but you don’t need to understand. You need to carry it out, and the heart will be drawn after the deed.

Question: But I have carried out all kinds of actions and I thought that they were directed toward connection.

Answer: You didn’t think that you were carrying them out for the sake of connection with the group, to discover the Creator within this connection and to give Him satisfaction. You need to think about this more now.

We must understand that the spiritual world is revealed in the mutual connection between us called Arvut (Mutual Guarantee). This connection must move through all the stages: bestowing in order to bestow so at least that which you hate you do not do to your friend, and after that to receiving in order to bestow, that is, loving your neighbor as yourself, until the completion of correction.

All the commandments strengthen the connection between us, and the Torah is the Light that Reforms that illuminates our efforts and implements this connection. It is up to us only to ask that the Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light) will influence and correct us.

But first we need to make joint efforts to feel what to ask for in order to discover the deficiency and a request for Light that will correct the characteristics that disturb us from connecting. To the degree that we yearn for connection, playing and speaking about this in front of everyone,  and making efforts, then the Ohr Makif will begin to influence us.

This doesn’t depend upon the merit of our intentions. Even if our intentions are the most egoistic, like those of Pharaoh, the Light will illuminate us from a distance. According to the nature of the Light, it illuminates through the center of the group. If you don’t make an effort to connect with others, you will not receive the Ohr Makif.

After all, the Ohr Makif is the Ohr Pnimi (Inner Light) that is supposed to be discovered; it is the Creator. The difference between them is only the degree of revelation. The Light of Infinity is concealed behind each and every level until it is absolutely hidden. We are in a state where it is absolutely concealed from us. But actually we are in the world of Infinity; its is concealed from our senses.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/27/14

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Question: Can the Elyon (upper) give a Masach (screen) to the Tachton (lower)?

Answer: He can, but then the Tachton becomes his slave and enter sunder his full bondage, or will be by his side like a little child. Once during the Intifada, my teacher Rabash and I entered an Arab village. The local inhabitants looked at us as if they were about to draw out their knives and surround the car.

I was very frightened. “Well, that’s it, it’s over for us,” I thought. Real terror took hold of me. When we went through the village and came out onto the highway, I stopped the car in exhaustion, took out a cigarette and smoked. Rabash looked at me and said, “I wasn’t afraid.”

He really wasn’t frightened and was absolutely relaxed because he was ready to handle the situation. And this was not some kind of boldness, but control of the situation, when all of those who were standing next to the car with knives were in his hands. This is a very high level, a very serious Masach.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 11/19/14

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Prophecy is a level of spiritual attainment. The prophets appeared after the Temple was built when the nation of Israel began the descent from the level they were on. The prophets come after the Torah. After the time of the Torah comes the time of the Prophets, and then there is the time of the Writings.

The state of Prophets was revealed after the nation entered the land of Israel. A prophet is a certain level of connection with the Creator. Basically, every Kabbalist is on that level, but a prophet is a person who reveals the Creator either on the level of Bina or the level of Hochma, according to his internal attainment.

On the level of Bina he says: “I heard,” because Bina symbolizes the spiritual hearing and on the level of the Light of Hochma he says: “I saw,” because Hochma symbolizes spiritual sight.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 12/10/14

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