Question: If a student is connected his teacher, can a student do something against the teacher’s will, consciously or by mistake, and thus turn off his spiritual tap? How does this system work?

Answer: The tap will be turned off in any case because the law of the lack of equivalence of form operates. In that case there cannot be a connection between us and there is a breach. Now this connection has to be renewed and it depends on what caused the breach, on how I caused it. Do I have to go through the four stages of correction, do I have to feel the depth of the upper’s greatness, the recognition of exile, which means the absolute disconnection?

I may have been wrong by mistake and I may have done it on purpose. The way the sin was committed makes the whole difference. There are cases in which after committing a murder a person escapes to a city of refuge or is sentenced to death, and there are cases when nothing is done to a person when it occurred during a military conflict or if defending oneself from an attack by someone armed with a knife. There are different cases, but this is related to correction, to the reconstruction of the connection.

If I don’t have the same desire as my teacher and I don’t delight him in any way, I am simply not connected to him in any way. If I want to delight my teacher in order to receive something in return, I am in contact with him but this connection is according to the Surrounding Light. I establish it, but in the meantime, in an alternative manner, not directly. I cannot relate to my teacher directly and delight him. I delight him only so that I will benefit from him, which means in order to receive, but in fact I want to delight him and through him to delight the Creator.

I plan this chain, but in the meantime I don’t know how to do it. It’s as if I have already chosen the right direction according to my capability, according to my attributes. This is called working indirectly, between GE and AHP, but in the meantime, I have no such connection. I don’t annul myself before the upper, but am connected to Him through the Surrounding Light. It is only if I cannot be in direct contact with Him according to my nature, which means that I am compelled.

But if it isn’t clear that I work against his will, there is no hope that I will receive anything from him. This is how we begin to feel that we have a different, new mind. It’s as if I stop making any accounts on the level of this world, according to my common sense, with my thoughts and my solutions, since this account is totally incompatible with our system.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/27/14, Topic of Lesson “Teacher”

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Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”: Now you can understand what our sages said (Berachot 7): “Serving in the Torah is greater than studying it, as it is said, ‘Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.’ It did not say studied, but poured.” This is perplexing; how can simple acts be greater than studying the wisdom and the knowledge?

But according to the above, we thoroughly understand that serving one’s Rav with one’s body and soul in order to bring contentment to one’s Rav bring one to Dvekut with one’s Rav, that is, to equivalence of form. Thus, one receives the thoughts and knowledge of the Rav by way of “mouth-to-mouth,” which is Dvekut of spirit with spirit. By that, one is rewarded with obtaining His greatness sufficiently to turn bestowal into reception, to become sufficient fuel for devotion, until one is rewarded with Dvekut with the Creator.

If there is a corrected intention, then certainly the study will be more important than everything. However, since the intention is not corrected, then necessarily the study will be for oneself. Therefore, the student must do everything possible to give contentment to the Elyon (upper) to the degree that he cannot make him happy by studying with the intention of giving contentment to the Creator. So, the maximum that remains for him is material actions.

Even though the action is also with an intention to receive, but the doing itself remains and therefore attracts the Light to it. In spite of this, in some way, the lower transmits to the higher what is in his power to transmit. As it is written, “Whatever your hand attains to do [as long as you are] with your strength, do” (Ecclesiastes 9:10). So, a connection is created between them in which each gives to the other. Therefore, Elisha did the right thing by pouring water on the hands of Elijah.

Serving the teacher in body and soul means acting according to the teacher’s desire. In particular, this relates to dissemination because this is the main thing that the Kabbalists recommended for us since they are our spiritual ancestors. Therefore, by involvement with dissemination, it is as if we are giving to them, are serving them, and to this degree, we attract the Light that Reforms to us through them. There is no greater bestowal to the higher than the continuation of his activities, his Torah, and his teaching, and bringing a greater and greater amount of souls to him in order to unite them and bring them to the Creator who will fill them; it is specifically with this that we give Him contentment.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/27/14, Topic of Lesson: “Teacher”

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Question: Through service to his Rav (teacher), a student is linked to his Rav, to the Elyon (upper), and receives from him. What happens if there is a situation where the student does something against the desire of his Rav for whatever reason? How does this influence the link between them and the advancement of the student?

Answer: This indicates total detachment. If it is clear to a student that he is acting against the desire of his Rav, then how can he behave like this? The main spiritual law is the law of equivalence of form. Therefore, for the needs of Dvekut (adhesion), it is at least necessary not to oppose, but to be in some kind of agreement. Even if you are not ready to carry something out, you cannot act in opposition.

If the student acts in opposition to the desire of his Rav, then he has no chance of receiving something from him. We also need to understand that spiritual equivalence or lack of equivalence is much more intense than physical equivalence, and therefore it influences the physical world. In other words, it will lead to a great distance of the student from the Rav. He has no chance of remaining near him.

Certainly, for a student, there is the possibility of approach and correction, for the Rav sees him as a little child who is capable of doing something foolish. The Rav can be angry at the student as at a child, but in spite of all this, he thinks of him as his son, and so he forgives him. However, he cannot agree and allow the child to act against his spiritual development.

In the physical world, sometimes we have no choice but to look with forgiveness at the mischief of children. However, in spirituality, it is impossible to tolerate this. This is because behavior like this leads to a lack of equivalence of form that is the main law of reality.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/27/14, Topic of Lesson: “Teacher”

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Question: What must change qualitatively in the group work and the dissemination work after the conventions? We expect a new stage that we don’t feel yet. What is that state from your point of view?

Answer: Now we are more united, we have begun to understand each other better, and we have begun to feel the friends who are in various parts of the world as one united group. We even get sick together, but all this is arranged from above and will bring us benefit. We will only become healthier.

Since we are now more connected with each other, our collective intensity has grown seven-fold, and therefore we understand the material much more deeply, even The Study of the Ten Sefirot, the spiritual mechanics. It will suddenly become closer to us.

We see how a child to whom we give a telephone or a computer, seemingly without knowing anything, plays with it and surprisingly to us, he begins to press the buttons correctly. How does he know what to press? It’s because he is already created for this level, and we cannot do this because we were created for the previous generation.

Therefore, when we connect together, we immediately leap to the next level, and all that Kabbalah speaks about becomes much closer and real for us.

Besides this, in accordance with that advancement that we have attained, I will give lessons on a higher level. Together with this, I will focus on my sensations and on groups that are advanced beyond the others by virtue of the efforts they invested.
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Question: A convention is always a great test for us. How can we make sure that we are in the right direction between the conventions, even when we experience negative feelings?

Answer: I cannot tell you when you experience negative feelings and when you don’t. If you are connected to us, you advance and the geographic distance is meaningless.

I will say it again, you advance only when you are with us in all our collective actions because by missing a couple of lessons, you miss much more and then you will not understand what is said in the next lesson. You will not understand things internally! You will not have the necessary filling and satiation.

My lessons are always inclined upwards, constantly upwards. You may think that it’s a repetition or that it has nothing to do with the previous material, but it’s not so! I always move forward! It may be presented differently, in a different manner or style, but it’s always on an increasingly higher level.

So you mustn’t miss any lessons! If you haven’t had a chance to listen to the lessons for a couple of days for different reasons, then you should still watch them later. The problem is that many of our friends don’t take the daily participation in the lessons seriously while I base my study precisely on that. A student is a person who follows me step by step.
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All we need is to follow the condition of the mutual guarantee between us. From the moment we start observing it and to the extent of our compliance with it, we begin approaching the goal. All 125 steps of the spiritual ladder, from the world of Assiya to the world of Infinity, are the levels of our mutual guarantee, of our increasingly stronger connection with each other.

Our entrance to the first step, the first spiritual level, depends entirely on our achieving mutual guarantee as at Mount Sinai. The Giving of the Torah comes from Above, and the mutual guarantee must come from below, from us. Then, the “awakening from Above” and the “awakening from below” occur together, and the Creator and creation start getting closer together. The Creator approaches His creations and the creation moves towards the Creator until they merge into one that is called the state of Final Correction (Gmar Tikkun).

Therefore, our task is to attain mutual guarantee. If we want the Light that Reforms, i.e., the Torah to impact us, we have to know that It manifests Itself only to the degree of the mutual guarantee among us.

Until we start creating internal pressure to become a part of each other, to connect and reach the mutual guarantee, the Light won’t start influencing or correcting us. The Light modifies only our desire to connect and reach the state of mutual guarantee to the extent we pursue it.

All we need is to try to push. It is called a “prayer,” a desire, a demand, a request to reach a special connection that is called “mutual guarantee.” The more we want to be closer to each other, the stronger we will feel that we are unable to attain unity.

The Light impacts us with Its opposite side: It gives us an initial desire, a chance that is called “placing our hand on the good fate and directing us to take it.” It gives us the tools: a teacher, books, and pulls us to connect.

At the same time, the Light repulses us from each other by creating a tension between us. On one hand, we are told that we have to connect; even though it is not attractive to us, we have to play as if we try to unite. Only if a group comprehends this principle and understands that this step is essential, can it advance.

It takes time. Sometimes it takes years to regard this condition as a serious prerequisite. It is the hardest condition since it is opposite to our nature. If we assemble around the notion of “mutual guarantee,” it means that we finally have caught the end of a thread, the end point of a beam that is spread from the world of Infinity to this world.

We are beginning to realize that only through our connection and to the degree of our reaching mutual guarantee can we stretch to a spiritual vessel in which we will eventually reveal the upper world, eternity, and the Creator. All of these things reveal to us here and now, in this life.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/31/13, Preparation for the Convention

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Question: Where do you get so much patience to answer the same questions over and over?

Answer: By nature I am impatient. However, when I answer questions, I always reveal something new. A person changes every day. Even if he asks the same question today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, I feel his transformation and this question is always new for me. Through it I reveal some property each time and thereby receive my next sensation of the upper world. Therefore, your questions serve as a platform for me in order each time to draw something from Above and to make a new discovery.
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From the Talk About “Group and dissemination” 10/22/13

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