Question: How does the Returning Light expand Malchut?

Answer: The vessel of Malchut is a tiny grain in which there is nothing. It is the smallest desire, an elementary particle with Reshimot (informational gene) inside. It is like a lifeless seed that only has the hope to come to life and that’s all.

But when Malchut within this tiny grain, when the “microprocessor” begins to calculate how to react to the Creator, creating Returning Light in it, its reaction to the Creator, and in the Returning Light it begins to feel the Creator Himself. The Creator is revealed within this reaction.

Then this Returning Light, the attitude of the created being towards the Creator, together with the attitude of the Creator towards him, which is now revealed above this grain, returns into the grain and expands it. Thus Malchut expands, and not only does it expand, but also takes on the form of the Creator. This form is dressed in the attitude of the created being towards the Creator. The two forms that are dressed in the desire expand it and give the desire the form called adhesion.

So when a student wants to ask a question his own way and stay with it by getting an answer, it works well in an ordinary university where the professor lectures from the podium. You may or may not agree with his method of teaching, you may accept it or not accept it, but in studying the wisdom of Kabbalah it doesn’t work, because the teacher “formats” the student. The student takes on the form of the teacher, just as I received it from my teacher. This is the holy study.

You can agree to that or not, but you won’t advance unless you receive it from me, even though you don’t like it now and it seems bad and distorted to you. Everything you receive from me can only be in my form and it must be dressed in you. This is the nature of the spiritual world, and there is nothing we can do about it; one form is dressed in another. This is why I insist that my students ask questions my way.

It is the “formatting” of the soul; it is the mutual work of the teacher and the student with the upper help.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/3/12, The Study of the Ten

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Disregard for the teacher in our world is a small reflection of how we ignore the Creator because of His concealment. This disregard is the disclosure of the true ego that does not recognize the upper one and says: “I myself will rule!”

This attitude appears in us towards the friends, teacher, and towards the Creator. But regarding the Creator, it’s hidden as long as you do not prepare yourself by working with what was given to you, that is, until you begin to see the friends and the teacher as great and big, and perceive those who are below as small, in need of your care. You find yourself in the middle, obliged to everyone!
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/4/12, Lesson About the Greatness of the Rav

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A student who wants to acquire wisdom from a teacher has to receive it in the right form, in the dressing of the upper acting mind. The same thing happens in an ordinary school to a certain extent, since each of us is born as raw material from which a certain form is later molded and is accordingly filled with different knowledge.

We always receive from others both the essence of the knowledge and the external form it is dressed in. This is how it happens in the upper spiritual roots and in our world. So it is very important from whom you learn. The knowledge is conveyed in the same way through books without the live contact with the author. Even in external corporeal sciences we always acquire knowledge as if “the Direct Light is dressed in the Returning Light.”

So it is especially true when speaking about the wisdom of Kabbalah. Here in order to convey information, there has to be a connection that is called “mouth to mouth,” a connection of “spirit in spirit,” which means that the Returning Light has to be compatible to a certain extent in giving and receiving. Of course, they are on different levels, but there is a certain resemblance between them, and so the lower can receive an illumination from the upper one.

These are intentional actions that take place in one’s understanding and recognition when there is a spiritual revelation.

If in external science we are concerned with the inner content, the knowledge itself, in the wisdom of Kabbalah we are concerned about the external form, the adhesion, and then in it, to the extent of the adhesion, we receive the Internal Light, and not in any other way.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/4/12, Lesson About the Greatness of the Rav

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Baal HaSulam, “Letter 43”: And the sages said: “the reverence for your teacher is like the reverence for Heaven.” And this is why Rizhner was proud that he had attained the highest level of all the sages in his generation, since he had acquired the faith of the sages more than anyone in his generation

And we should understand that faith isn’t the question, since even six-year-old children can acquire it, but it is his feeling of the greatness and the awe his soul felt by the wisdom of the sages, that part of His wisdom renders superfluous to those who revere Him.

Passing on the wisdom refers to the passing of the Light of Hochma and not to external wisdom. Therefore, it depends on the connection between the spiritual Partzufim. An upper Partzuf gives birth to a lower Partzuf from its “chest” downwards, like GE gives birth to AB. First GE gives birth to the internal Partzuf of AB and then the external Partzuf of AB stems from it, which comes after Galgalta, by being dressed on it from the outside, from its “chest” downwards. This is the order of the Partzufim.

Passing on the Light is impossible without such a connection between the spiritual Partzufim, without the lower being adhered to the upper one in some way. The place of adhesion is where the upper and the lower connect into one whole. Then the lower can receive from the upper and the upper can pass something on to it. If there is no such place of adhesion, of connection between them, then the lower cannot be born and cannot receive the Light from the upper.

After the shattering, we find ourselves in this world and we develop as a result of the Reshimot (reminiscences) that are evoked in a certain order, from the lighter ones to the heavier ones. Here we already have to work from the bottom up and to acquire a stronger Masach (screen) over our ego each time in order to adhere to the upper one.

We also receive the Masach from the upper by the Light that Reforms. The order of the degrees never changes; it only seems to us that it doesn’t exist since we don’t feel it. Actually we are all connected, since the shattering is only revealed with regards to a person himself, according to his attainment and his feeling.

So the whole system is revealed to us according to the order the Reshimot are evoked from the bottom up. We only have to add our labor to attain adhesion with the Creator. This adhesion is attained through the group, a teacher, and all the means that we have including the studying. Thus we receive the Light that Reforms and through the studying and the connection with the group and the teacher we reach adhesion with the Creator; that’s the way it works.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/4/12, Lesson About the Greatness of the Rav

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Religious schools instill an attitude of respect in children towards the teacher and spiritual leaders from early childhood. This tradition comes from spiritual principles. But since mostly secular people come to Kabbalah, it is very difficult for them to change their attitude towards teachers, which they have become accustomed to in school and college.

We are not used to attributing a higher degree to the teacher who gives us spiritual attainment. We think that a teacher recites things written in books and sometimes provides more detailed explanations.

It is incomprehensible and unnatural that in the Kabbalistic approach you receive spirituality through the teacher. But in Kabbalah, adhesion with the teacher precedes adhesion with the Creator. It is impossible to attain greater trepidation in relation to the Creator, than the kind that you feel in relation to your spiritual teacher and the group. This is the way a person builds himself; this is why the entire world has been given to him.

But you need to work on it; otherwise, you will not attain the goal. Lack of respect for the teacher is a modern problem, which shows us how much we still need to correct ourselves. This is not a coincidence, but an enormous addition of egoism, which needs to be corrected.

This additional egoism is additional distance, which separates us from the Creator, and it shows through the fact that we don’t respect the group or the teacher and thus distance ourselves from the Creator.

When I was a student, what helped me correct my attitude was that I was always imagining the higher system where we all exist, but which is concealed from us. And in this system, every one who is lower is absolutely attached to his upper. The actual system did not break; the breaking only took place in our perception. Our entire work consists of bringing ourselves to the point where we are able to perceive and reveal the actual system.

And once the spiritual system becomes revealed, the connections between all its parts will also be revealed to us. The ladder of spiritual degrees does not change, and when one soul becomes revealed first, and another one is revealed after it, this order remains forever. And this is why we will always receive through the great spiritual fathers, Kabbalists, who have lived before us and completed their corrections. We will always receive through Baal HaSulam and Rabash.

And if you continue this path and once merit spiritual attainment, you will receive it through me. This is the way the spiritual ladder is.

We need to work on this, otherwise a connection will not appear between us. It is written: “Make yourself a Rav (‘Rav’ means big) and buy yourself a friend, and justify every person,” and all this is preparation for the adhesion with the Creator. Naturally, the teacher does not need the compliments that a student needs. But the student needs to prepare himself for the revelation of the Creator.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/4/12, Lesson About the Greatness of the Rav

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Question: Have there ever been people who listened to Kabbalists and followed their advice?

Answer: In ancient times, it was not about one Kabbalist or another, but about a whole period of development: the era of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and Joshua…Those are periods, rather than people as such. The spirit of the person was active in that time and made what it did. For example, Moses built the nation and contributed the methodology of correction to the desires that were unveiling at that time. As a result, he brought the nation to the Land of Israel, that is, to the revelation of the Creator.

Everything is carried out by the Kabbalists, although we cannot see it during the exile. Kabbalists are the ones by whom the world is being “charged,” which allows it to exist. Without a sparkle of Light, this world would never have appeared in the first place and matter could not have existed. There always are the Kabbalists who, according to their Kelim, belong to the generality of humanity as well as to a spiritual degree.

It is said that “the tail of the lion,” the nine lower Sefirot of the world of Atzilut, together with the Light of Hochma descend to the worlds of BYA and become “the head of the fox” (shualim), in other words, those who ask questions (shoalim). After all, that’s where the broken vessels are located, and so, the question arises: How do we correct them?

We need this connection as well as a permanent opportunity to transition between the levels. In this world, it is ensured by the Kabbalists. On one hand, they are dressed the same as others so that they can teach us. On the other hand, they are a part of a higher degree. There is no other way to achieve this because we are a part of the general system that lives in accordance with rigid laws.

Returning to the question:. After a long exile, Jewish people listened to the advice of the great Kabbalists during the time of Baal Shem Tov and his disciples. They led the nation, guided it forward, and gave birth to generations who lived in accordance with spiritual attainment—to people who connected “the ground” of this world with the height of Ein Sof (Infinity). It was a period of great Kabbalists who were operating in both worlds at the same time.

As to the severe detachment (interruption) of the spiritual connection that was created within the last one hundred years, it is probably something that was supposed to happen. The situation is really critical at this time. And yet, it is said: “I have not forsaken Israel.” Even today, there are Kabbalists who convey illumination from the spiritual world to ours.

Our world is a tiny dark spot in the center of spiritual universe. It is essential to bring the Light into it, otherwise it won’t be able to endure. Throughout all the worlds, the Light descends directly to this plane, to our corrupt desires, and Kabbalists are the ones who safeguard this ray of Light.

You call them “people,” although it has nothing to do with a body, but rather it is about certain desires or states (Kelim). They act deliberately, so that they can descend even lower and be closer to us. For example, Baal HaSulam asked to be lowered in order to be able to write and help those living below.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/12, “The Nation” 

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Question: Do a lot of people complain about your unbearable character? Are you always like this, with everyone and in everything?

Answer: I’ll try to “explain myself.” Kabbalah formulates our task for existence in this world as “Efforts and findings” (Igati ve Matsati). Meaning, the application of the correct efforts leads to a finding, to one’s revelation of the Creator’s benevolence (Metsiyat hen be’eyney HaShem), to reveal the love of the Creator. This revelation (of the currently concealed relationship of the Creator towards each one) happens to the extent of qualitative comparison (similarity of qualities, Ishtavut aTsura).

So, there are two types of relationships of the teacher towards the student:

• The teacher always acts toward the student softly, gives the student time to develop, not indicating the mistakes.
• The teacher acts towards the student in an instructing way, as the Creator. However, the instruction of the Creator is concealed, while a teacher demonstrates it in order to direct the student based on the example of the relationship between them onto the correct understanding of the relationship between the student and the Creator. This helps the student to more quickly understand what it means to find benevolence, how to draw attention from the relationship towards the teacher to address the Creator, to attain the “finding.”

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A spiritual teacher is a system that builds me, puts me on my feet, guides me, and leads me until I reach the goal. It’s like a father and mother caring for a child, without whom the child would not have survived. He exists only thanks to them because he instinctively clings to them and thus gets from them all the necessary care and successfully grows into an adult.

In our world, in this role are the physical father and mother, and in the spiritual world, the system of Aba ve Ima (the upper father and mother), a person’s spiritual teacher, the highest Partzuf.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/05/12, Shamati #25

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The Creator isn’t a personality. It is forbidden to imagine anything in the immaterial spiritual world. It is a world of qualities, not even of forces in our current understanding of the word.

Today, when we think of a force, we imagine physical forces. And for the time being, I don’t argue with that. I don’t want to correct this degree of relation to spirituality because at least it gives us certain sensation of the field.

We envision a field, its intensity, characteristics, and the decrease or increase in its force proportionally to the square of the distance. This is how any physical fields expand. This gives us an opportunity to operate with at least something that exists around us in nature and technology. Therefore, for the time being we can imagine the spiritual forces and the spiritual field in this manner.

But in general, the spiritual field is a quality, a property. It’s not even a force.

However, we say the “force of reception,” the“force of bestowal,” “collision,” “mating while striking,” and so on. In other words, we speak of forces. But afterwards, we will feel that it’s simply just two properties that are interacting with each other in this manner: the property of the Creator and the one opposite to Him, the property of the creature that He made. They interact so that between them, between these two properties, man, consciousness, would arise. Consciousness—it’s what man is.

And when it comes to matter in our world, any quantum physicist will tell you that there is no matter, there aren’t even any elementary particles. Everything blurs, turns into a cloud, disappears into nowhere, and spreads like shagreen leather. There is no point, no forces, nothing, only nebulous cloudiness in the place of what previously appeared as particles simultaneously existing in all locations. That is, physicists are approaching the boundary of the physical world.

This is why it’s impossible to talk about something figurative. On the contrary, we will come to the point where all of our subsequent attainments, which we will call spiritual, meaning above-egoistic, will not be figurative, but qualitative.

For example, a dog sees the world as patches of scents. And we’ll perceive the world not as figures or images, but in a form of various qualities: greater egoism, smaller egoism, greater bestowal, lesser bestowal, interaction while striking, penetration, and so on. Only qualities! This is the upper world. And we’ll perceive ourselves in a form of qualities as well.

Even today you would like to see the essence of man and not his body.
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From a TV Program “Foundations of the Integral Society” 4/8/2012

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Question: After the convention I have a feeling that it was all like a dream, and it’s difficult to realize what happened. How would you sum up the results of the convention?

Answer: This is not easy. If you had known Rabash, you would know how closed he was, concealing himself and not wishing to give any explanations besides the most necessary ones. Yet it is clear that he wanted to give as much as possible to his students, since it is written, “A cow wishes to feed more than the calf wishes to suckle.”

But the problem is the student’s readiness level. The teacher cannot give him an “unripe fruit” since instead of being help, this will harm him and bring him to a halt, a descent, confusion, and then it will take him a long time and great efforts to get out of this state. Everyone will pay dearly for that—both the teacher and the student, as well as those who have to unite with him into one system. This is a very complex calculation.

That is why it is written, “Raise a lad in his own way.” That is to say, the teacher should not give to the student according to the student’s infantile demand, “Give me!” But should do so correctly and deliberately, as befits his level of development.

Clearly, this constantly evokes pressure in the relationship between the teacher and the students. They are shouting to the teacher, “Give to us!” They don’t understand that he can only give them the method but not the actual fulfillment. They will have to receive the fulfillment themselves by realizing this method upon themselves.

Therefore, some people do not think that they are advancing well. Some cannot justify this method and perceive it. Or they might even understand it with their mind, but are not ready to agree with it in their heart. As a result, they start to disregard the teacher, the method, and the sources. And nothing can be done about it—that’s how life is.

I think that we already overcame very difficult stages, and whoever has stayed after this, out of the thousands of people who have gone through here, will go forward. And whoever left might still come back. We are waiting for everyone, the whole world, to join us.

But in the future there won’t be a choice either: all new levels will always be revealed from the side of the vessels, empty desires. Therefore, you must only strictly carry out the advice of the sources and teacher, and after realizing this advice you will receive answers and fulfillment yourself! Fulfillment cannot come from above to an empty place, if there is no vessel.

Let us hope that we have now gained a better understanding of these principles and the order of our work. Many new people took part in the Convention, who do not have the experience we do yet. But by tuning into the common unity, they will be able to learn these principles quickly, just like any new generation relies on the experience of the previous one and receives from it. And we will be happy to give them everything we have so that by tuning in to our world group, they will immediately become just as experienced and knowledgeable as us, and even more so.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/15/12, Writings of Rabash

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