After Abraham’s group worked on unity, they began to discover a new level of the ego and began to draw apart again, just like they did in Babylon.

They were dominated by the power of Pharaoh, a giant ego that pressured them, the relations between them, became “the slavery in Egypt.”

It was at that time that the next leader of the nation Moses appeared. Moses was brought up at Pharaoh’s home from a very young age, but nonetheless, a great desire to ascend above his upbringing awoke in him. He escaped from Pharaoh and turned to the people, calling them to leave Egypt.

The people, however, were very weak. On one hand, they understood that they had to leave the egoistic slavery, otherwise there was not a chance that they would connect and unite to reproduce Abraham’s idea that helps them advance in the connection between them, to reveal the Creator.

On the other hand, the Creator is concealed from their feelings. So the slavery in Egypt is like nighttime for them since they don’t feel the spiritual life at all. But they have already tasted and felt what a spiritual state means: life without any limitations, a feeling of the outer space, a different dimension.

Therefore, they were rather passive at first and Moses had to aggravate Pharaoh (the ego) to such an extent that the people would feel his rigid domination. Only then did they see the afflictions that the ego caused them and were then ready to leave Egypt because they didn’t want to identify with their ego anymore. They had no power to break away from it but they suddenly felt the desire to do so.

By showing them the ego’s cruelty and slyness, Moses raises the people and takes them out of the egoistic state. Now they are ready to overcome all the fights, disputes and conflicts and to ascend above them according to the condition of “love covers all transgressions.” Then they break away from the slavery in Egypt, rise above it, and leave Egypt.

Every whole spiritual level is made of ten sub-levels. Every sub-level should be seen as a source of loss, pain, sufferings, and terrible diseases. Sufferings that gradually accumulate in the recognition of the egoistic slavery and convince people to break away from the ego (even at night, in the dark, when nothing is understood and nothing can be seen); the main thing is to keep the connection between them.

The situation before the exodus from Egypt and afterward is similar to crossing a border. In Egypt we depend on one another, hating one another, but the moment we take upon ourselves the law of mercy, of altruistic bestowal, of mutual incorporation, we can cross the border and break away from Egypt.
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From KabTV’s “Short Stories” 10/22/14

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Question: We would like to pass our baton, our love, our heartfelt attitude to our friends from Latin America and North America and ask those friends that have the possibility of being there definitely to come to meet with you and their friends.

Answer: I very much look forward to that; I am flying to the nations of Latin America and North America with the great hope of meeting with my students. I want to see that they are advancing in the same direction as our joint “Russian team” advanced in Sochi. I would want similar groups to be there.

We see with what speed the world is evolving. Just think, the Brazilians no longer want to watch soccer! This says something! Here we are still locked into football, whereas, there this is not so anymore, even though for South Americans the carnival and soccer have been the most important things in life.

This is a very interesting phenomenon. Together with tiredness, isolation, and distance, some kind of awareness appears, and not just something vague and passive. They don’t want it! And especially now, when they have lost, this gives an even greater push towards continued awareness.

See how they are being guided from Above! After all, for them soccer had been their whole life: salvation from revolution, from poverty, from everything! People are beginning to understand that a radical decision is required; daydreams at games are not allowed.

It amazes me that this is coming precisely from there. When people like these seem to know naturally how to break away from all the hardships and be satisfied with little, already feeling that they cannot fulfill themselves through this, it is wonderful!
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From the Convention In Sochi “Day One” 7/13/14, Lesson 1

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The correct restriction of the ego that leads to the mean between Abraham’s attribute of Hesed (mercy) and Isaac’s attribute of Gvura (power) is necessary in order to advance spiritually and to take what they have in common.

What they have in common is the next phase in the development of Abraham’s group called Jacob, since the connection between the right line (Abraham) and the left line (Isaac) gradually depicts the middle line (Jacob).

It is actually at this point that we can talk about the beginning of the real fulfillment of the method of Kabbalah because now it includes the two lines, right and left, the attribute of Hesed (bestowal) and the attribute of Din (receiving), which create a third force that connects them correctly. The third force is called Jacob.

The formation of the middle line (the attribute of Jacob) in the Kabbalistic group that came out of Babylon is the basis for the development of the wisdom of Kabbalah. Every movement in spiritual development is gradually fulfilled and it is possible to ascend to the next level only when we add the left line to the right line.

If I am on a certain level, I have to add the left line and different kinds of egoistic desires and problems and rise above them in order to ascend to the next level. This is the only way I can understand the next level. In other words, the flat areas on the steps of the ladder are the attributes of goodness and the ascent from one level to the next are the attributes of domination, respect and power, above which I ascend.

This is how the ladder of the spiritual ascent called Jacob’s ladder is built. Jacob includes both good and evil forces and correctly connects them by internally fulfilling the method of the gradual ascent up the ladder. Jacob is actually the beginning of the spiritual development that is purposeful and correct.

This explains the existence of the left line in our world. It stems from the Creator who gives it to us so that we will ascend higher above ourselves until we attain His level.

The right combination between the right and left lines, the attribute of Abraham and Isaac, are included in the attribute of Jacob that is also called Israel. If we take these two forces of nature and connect them correctly and ascend Jacob’s ladder, we thus become Israel (Yashar- El), which means straight to the Creator. When we use these two forces, we can accurately focus on the goal and constantly aim, place, and manage ourselves exactly on the middle line.
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From KabTV’s “Short Stories” 10/15/14

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Shamati #1 “There is None Else Beside Him”: Rather, for those people who truly want to draw near the Creator, and so they will not settle for little, meaning remain as senseless children… And only if that person has a true desire…

Is it possible for a person to have a true desire? I must feel inside, within my belly, within my heart, and examine with my mind how much at each and every moment in life I am alert to maintaining myself for my benefit. The main thing for me is not to harm anyone so that no one will harm me. I am only concerned about how to defend myself from all the evil that surrounds me, from all the dangers and bad influences from all sides.

If I feel that I am so focused on protecting myself, I will understand that this holds my entire attention, and even my desire to discover the Creator is derived from the same Kli, from the same intention to further improve my situation. However, I am not prepared to be released from my beastly nature of self-defense.

Here, I make a decision that I must get away from it, simply to tear myself from this concern for self-preservation, and all of this depends solely on this: How much does the importance of the Creator become greater than my own self-importance? When a desire, a decision, an imperative, like this ripens and awakens in me, I will begin to hate “my body,” meaning the ego that obligates me to be concerned about my own self-preservation all the time, and then a desire, a prayer, a scream, a request, awakens within me for the Creator to change what has been created for me, and I will begin to be concerned about the greatness of the Creator—about “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”—more than myself, and I will see myself only as a means for bestowing to others.

I must reach such an inner explosion that I will be ready to do anything. This is a critical point where I decide that I would rather kill myself than live a life like this if I won’t be able to be concerned about others more than about myself. I perceive my egoistic, beastly state as being so despicable that I simply must change it.

Those of us who have not yet passed through it are very close to this turning point, and we must pay special attention to it.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/14, Shamati #1

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Question: It turns out that all the overcoming is in the desire that will win in me?

Answer: If my parents punish me, forcing me to do homework, my desire to avoid the blows becomes stronger than the desire to rest, and I go and do all that is required.

We always act according to our desire. The only question is whether it is my desire that obliges me to act or someone else’s desire. If this desire arises directly in me, then I realize it with pleasure and it does not require me to overcome anything.

If I see that the desire in not mine, then it is called coercion. In the end, I also perform the required act on my own accord by making the calculation that otherwise I would be punished or have no money for food. But this is someone else’s desire, not my true desire, that forces me to act, and that is why I do this without joy.

The action itself does not contain any overcoming! I always do everything according to the desire: either emerging in me or that presses and forces me. But, overcoming by myself is in obtaining good desires that are useful for me. So, I purposefully absorb them from the environment.

For example, my parents wanted me to become a musician. And so my father took me to watch movies about musicians. He wanted me to be inspired by their life, glory, and world fame, and he also wanted me to want to be like them. But the only thing I remembered from this, is that eventually they all ended their lives and died because I was a child of 6 – 7 years old.

Using these examples, my parents wanted to instill the desire to study music in me, but I did not absorb it and suffered much from studying at a music school. This shows that overcoming applies to a person who understands that he needs it. He has no choice, and thus he overcomes his original desire and acquires a new one.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 5/27/14

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Baal HaSulam, “The Peace”: From the beginning of Creation, all people have reservations, and the Thought of the Creator necessitates them to come to the feast, knowingly or unknowingly.

This plan certainly will be fulfilled, and it is all a matter of time. After all, the evil forces we develop return to us like a boomerang, pressuring us and bringing us to the right decisions.

The goal will be obtained one way or the other, and we actually are bringing it closer by using our developing ego incorrectly so that eventually it acts against us, forcing us to respond.

On the whole, until recently, the process of evolution was good for us. We developed new tools, introduced competition, built a banking system, developed commerce, discovered continents, and basically, everything was just fine since it helped us advance.

However, in the 20^th century, we exhausted this form of development and for the first time began to see that there is a limit to our advancement. We found ourselves at a dead end. We have exhausted our ego and today it is beginning to destroy itself. We have seen clear signs for that for a while now. In 1971 for example, the gold coin in the US was replaced by a paper note. The eruption of the ego had many consequences, but the main lesson was that future problems will force us to change our lifestyle, the formula of human existence.

The question is whether blows will force us to grow wiser and to understand how to avoid problems along the way, or whether we will be able to identify what is coming in advance and begin to change ourselves.

Slow evolution will lead to totalitarian forms of government like in Germany or Soviet Russia in the first half of the last century. These are the two ultimate forms of the ego’s development, and we may be witnessing them again. What is more, this is exactly what we are advancing toward; however, today, it is called “Armageddon,”or we can force ourselves artificially against our growing ego to develop the good, anti-egoistic force of bestowal instead of the force of receiving between us.

So, let’s develop this way. This is actually what Kabbalists tell us: use the force concealed in nature. It can dominate us just as our ego dominates us today. So far, the evil force has dominated the good force, receiving dominated bestowal. However, now, the force of bestowal can dominate the force of receiving. This means that they will be balanced just as the wisdom of Kabbalah explains and teaches us how to understand the balance between them. After all, it is impossible to use only one of the two forces. The force of bestowal, absolute love, can be a destructive force. Generally speaking, each of the forces blinds a person, and he doesn’t see anything before him. If we accept one force only, we will be captives of that force. Only the right balance of the two forces we find inside us is called the Adam (Man) in us. It brings us to the realization and to the true feeling, to receiving and to bestowal, that allows us to use all of nature and build ourselves in the middle of these two forces.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, there is no other way that we can develop. In the worst case, we will reach it through blows and sufferings. However, the blows will not create the right form in us. We must make the choice by ourselves, make decisions, and gradually establish it inside us so that we will grow wise and understand the connection between us and the Creator through our efforts to build our home, the Divinity (Shechina).

However, we are like a stubborn kid who refuses to learn, and so the troubles come: the disciplinary measures that force him to begin learning. If he would learn from his books, there would be no need for the blows. On the contrary, he could save time and avoid the sufferings.

It is actually impossible to advance on the path of “in its time” (Beito) since then you stay in the same place without moving, like a donkey, until you are beaten and have no other choice.

Baal HaSulam says that the guests will come to the feast knowingly and unknowingly, so we should listen to him.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/26/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Baal HaSulam, Shamati #1 “There Is None Else Besides Him” …There are things in the world, which, to begin with, aim to divert a person from the right way, and by which he is rejected from Sanctity.

And the benefit from the rejections is that through them a person receives a need and a complete desire for the Creator to help him, since he sees that otherwise he is lost.

Therefore a person needs the right society, a society that corrects and adjusts him, reminding him what the goal is and putting him back on the right track. Thanks to the society, he does not divert from the path because of the different obstacles but initially regards them with the right intention.

The moment a person establishes the right intention in order to reveal the good upper providence, that “There is none else besides Him,” he totally changes his attitude toward life. He understands that everything around him is a theater that is meant only to reveal that, and so he sees God’s hand in everything.

If he focuses himself correctly, he advances and grows stronger, and sees how the Creator gives him an opportunity to get closer to correction at any given moment.

And he, who always feels that the shattered is greater than the whole, meaning that there are many more descents than ascents, and he does not see an end to these states, and he will forever remain outside of holiness, for he sees that it is difficult for him to observe even as little as a jot, unless by overcoming above reason.

“Faith above reason” means that I see many reasons that keep on growing both in quantity and in quality, and it disturbs me and doesn’t allow me to concentrate. It tears me to pieces that I cannot say that they stem from the “good that does good,” and that “there is none else besides Him.”

I must oppose the sources of evil, but, at the same time, remember that it is only an external expression of the Creator’s attitude toward me. In my corporeal life, I must relate to these hardships as is customary in our world. It is said that the world keeps on turning, but in the internal, spiritual dimension, I must treat it on a different level, on the human level, Adam (man), one resembling the Creator (Domeh). I must use all the states for connection and for getting closer to the Creator.

Here, too, a person feels split and finds it hard to be on two dimensions simultaneously since one annuls the other. However, this is all our work.

In this world, we engage in matter according to certain laws. We work, take care of our family, our children, our job, and on making a living just like everyone else. However, at the same time, we also engage in high spiritual matters.

Although we suffer because of the different problems in this world, when we ascend to the second level, to the spiritual dimension, we are constantly in adhesion with the upper force, with the good that does good. Our efforts on these two levels gradually bring us to revelation.

It is because the gap between corporeality and spirituality, which we keep without getting confused and without blurring, brings us to demand the revelation of the Creator. The corporeal and the spiritual states in which I operate correctly by separating them become increasingly more extreme, scary, unpleasant, and painful. They actually tear me to pieces, and I cannot justify the Creator. I must do something since otherwise the Creator, “There is none else besides Him” and the good and benevolent, disappears from me. So, I struggle in order to reveal Him. It isn’t because I feel bad in my corporeal life, rather, because I understand that the unpleasantness that is given to me is so I will decide that there is none else besides Him and that He is good and benevolent.

However, I cannot do that, so I cry out, ask for help and weep, but not for myself, not in order to ease my corporeal life with the support of “There is none else besides Him” and the good that does good.

Thanks to the right work on the two dimensions, I come to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter whether I feel good or not. What’s important is that I don’t want to lose the Creator, the good and the benevolent, since otherwise I convict His providence. For the first time, a person begins to build his vessels correctly, and in order to do that, he needs the revelation of the Creator. He doesn’t want to ease his work that way, but he asks for power that he doesn’t have naturally, the Creator’s attribute. He doesn’t ask for it for his own benefit, but so that he wouldn’t curse the upper providence, the Creator’s uniqueness.

A person’s work, called God’s work, is to discover that “there is none else besides Him” and that “He is good that does good.”
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/14, Shamati #1

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Baal HaSulam, Shamati #1 “There Is None Else Besides Him”: It is written, “there is none else besides Him.” This means that there is no other force in the world that has the ability to do anything against Him. And what man sees, that there are things in the world that deny the Higher Household, the reason is that this is His will. And it is deemed a correction, called “the left rejects and the right adducts,” meaning that which the left rejects is considered correction.

“There is none else besides Him,” means that everything that happens is a result of one domination, one influence, although it seems that there are two forces or even more. People believe that there are many different forces in the world or at least two: good and evil.

But it is all because the upper force, one thought, one goal, which means one domination, operates on us in different ways. These actions of the one providence seem different and opposite to such an extent that it is as if they are in a struggle against one another.

We don’t understand the point in the good or bad, happy or tragic events that we and the surrounding world go through. When we look at what is happening around us, we cannot attribute the two opposite forces of good and evil to one goal, to one domination. It is actually on this point that we should focus all our clarifications. All the commandments in the Torah are meant for this, in order to help us reveal that behind the multitude of forces operating on us and dominating us, there is only one domination. All our work is to clarify that there is none else besides Him. This is our main goal.

Moreover, we discover that this one force is good and benevolent. Every action at every moment in our life is according to the domination of the one, upper providence. Therefore, our goal should be to try and yearn to discover the only domination at any given moment and to justify it as the good and benevolent.

We reveal the good and benevolent to such a degree that we begin to love the upper force, as it says: “Love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” This is how we should recognize His actions, by discovering in all my vessels that the upper providence is unique and good.

At the same time, it is actually the opposite form that is revealed in every desire and in every thought that we have, negating the fact that the upper force is good and benevolent and that there is none else besides Him. We, on the other hand, have to work on all our vessels and to ask for corrections in order to discover that the Creator is the only force operating in the world and that He treats us with infinite goodness.

The decision that there is none else besides Him puts a person on the right track of life. He already knows what he has to do at any given moment of his existence.

In fact, this is the only thing a person needs. He only needs to worry a little about the basic necessities of his corporeal body on the animate level, while all his efforts and resources should be focused on that in order to get closer to the revelation of there is none else besides Him and that He is good and benevolent in any possible situation, even if they may be negating each other.

Then a person discovers that everything he has been through in life, all the worries and the confusions, were only meant to help him discover in even more depth and breadth, the uniqueness of there is none else besides Him, and of the good and benevolent.

Then we see that the only goal of our work and our existence on this planet in a state called this world is meant for this revelation of the upper force. We will then continue our work on other levels, on all the 125 levels, until the end of correction so that we will all feel in each and every vessel and in all of them together that there is none else besides Him and that He is good that does good.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/14, Shamati #1

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The Torah, “Leviticus” (Acharei Mot) 18:25-18:27: And the land became defiled, and I visited its sin upon it, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. But as for you, you shall observe My statutes and My ordinances, and you shall not do like any of these abominations neither the native, nor the stranger who sojourns among you. For the people of the land who preceded you, did all these abominations, and the land became defiled.

The Hebrew word “Eretz” (land) stems from the word “Ratzon” (desire). Those who obtain a desire that helps them focus them on the revelation of the Creator need to correct the laws that were broken.

A stranger is a person who acquires and adapts himself to a new level. He is still in his old desires, which are not on the new level yet, but he already enters the new level. Those who yearn for the Creator can be called strangers, which means that they only enter this level or that they already acquire that level called Israel, Yashar-El (straight to the Creator). Among them there are common folks, Levites and priests (Cohenim).

Thus, it says in the Torah: “For you were strangers…” but we were strangers in the land of Egypt since we had to go through it and to take the immense desires of Pharaoh from it. Only then was it possible to ascend to the levels of the spiritual worlds.

Without the descent to Egypt we wouldn’t have been able to acquire egoistic desires. All this work that is later described takes place after the exodus from Egypt, when a person absorbs all these desires and can already correct them.

It is because all the desires of incest and impurity that were taken from Egypt are corrected on the way to the ascent to a level called Eretz Israel (the land of Israel). This means that the corrected Egypt is called the land of Israel.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 3/19/14

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It wasn’t easy for Abraham to disseminate his ideas since most Babylonians were against his method.

He believed that everything stems from one force, although it later splits into many opposite forces that have no free will.

The Babylonians, however, claimed that there are several forces that managed the world and that they were all connected by a system of different mutual relationships. The mythologies about different gods that fight one another, devour one another, have children, and so on emerged from this basis.

Abraham refuted all these beliefs, but at the same time he understood that he would not be able to lead all of Babylon. This was the dramatic situation in which he found himself. According to his method, it is possible to attain the goal of creation only when every person in the world recognizes and realizes that there is only one way to reach one form which we create among us by connecting into one whole. The main point is the internal unity among us, despite the heterogeneity of our corporeal bodies.

We have to take care of the body, give it what it needs to maintain its existence, so that rising above it, one engages in the connection and unity between us and advances towards the goal. This is called the evolution of the human being within us. Moreover, this human being is our general image.

By uniting internally among us, we receive one general image called Adam (man – with the same root as “Domeh” –  one who resembles the Creator), which was the same name given to the first person to investigate the spiritual world.

Abraham went through a rough path before he discovered the method of spiritual connection and unity. His first teacher was his father Terah who taught him according to Noah’s method. Terah believed that paganism is justified and Abraham tried to accept his views until he rebelled against his teacher. This is the dramatic breaking point, the disagreement with the teacher, when the student outdoes his teachers by ascending to a level above.

On the other hand, however, Terah tried to force his teachings on Abraham and showed him all the bad qualities and the evil in polytheism after which Abraham could find the right way. He realized that only one force of goodness and love manages the world, and it includes the evil force, only so that it will be used to ascend above evil.

By discovering this, Abraham became an innovator, a revolutionist, who changed the course of history and showed humanity the right path.
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From KabTV’s “Short Stories” 10/15/14

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