The Torah, “Leviticus” (Shemini), 11:4, 11:6-11:8: But these you shall not eat among those that bring up the cud and those that have a cloven hoof: the camel, because it brings up its cud, but does not have a [completely] cloven hoof; it is unclean for you. And the hare, because it brings up its cud, but does not have a [completely] cloven hoof; it is it is unclean for you. And the pig, because it has a cloven hoof that is completely split, but will not regurgitate its cud; it is unclean for you. You shall not eat of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.

This is a detailed description of the desires that cannot be corrected until the end of correction.

On one hand, they symbolize desires that can be used in order to bestow. But on the other hand, it is impossible to correct them since they require a Light that is so strong that we cannot acquire yet.

We will be able to do so after the correction of all the other desires: the still, vegetative, and animate desires in us. Then in the corrected state, we will be able to use the desires called camel, swine, etc.
[138107]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 1/22/14

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Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Halevi Epstein, Maor va Shemesh (Light and Sun), Chapter “VaYakhel” (And He Assembled): There is a great advantage in the connection of simple people to the righteous of the generation since simple people don’t have the heart to understand how to really worship the Creator and how to do everything clearly so that their actions will illuminate for the Creator.

It is only by connecting the righteous of the generation and by spurring their hearts with enthusiasm by the righteous’ holy words that they can understand how to really worship the Creator.

By connecting to the righteous of the generation whose work is clear and illuminating in all the worlds, it also illuminates the souls of Israel who will leave all their doings and also raise a scent of incense to the Creator.

The nature of the Light and the vessel, the created being that was created by the Light, is a circle in which at first there is no difference between all its parts, but if we speak about correction, we can see a hierarchy there.

The first restriction is made equally on all sides around the central point, but then by working with the Masach (screen) of the created being himself who wants to resemble the Light, the circle cannot remain anymore because on every level of Aviut (thickness) of the desire—the root level, levels one, two, three, and four—the created being tries to resemble the Light each time. Thus, we reach a form of a square as the corners of the square stem from the attributes of phase one, two, three, and four.

After the restriction, when it is impossible to work with Malchut itself anymore, but only with Malchut that is sweetened in Bina, the square becomes a triangle, and a Star of David is formed from these two triangles, the lower and the upper.

This is how the hierarchy of attaining the upper is created on the part of the lower, and thus the difference between the souls is created. It is because before the shattering, the souls are on different level of Aviut, and he who is greater than his friend, his desire is even greater, but he is greater since he has a Masach.

However, after the shattering and the loss of the Masach, those who had a greater ego fell lower than the others, from the high mountain to the bottom of the abyss. This is how the hierarchy of the correction is determined, from the lightest to the most serious. So there the levels of the patriarchs, the sons, the sages, the prophets, the kings, and the Kabbalists, and so forth, from the time of the second Temple until our time appears.

The corrections are derived and continue in a chain from the purest desire to the coarsest, and so the Light is conveyed from the top down, which means according to the purity of the vessels that are attained by the size of the Masach. First of all, it depends on the Reshimot (reminiscences) that are left in the shattered vessel. They actually determine when it is a person’s time to be corrected.

It isn’t up to a person who can only participate in the correction of the Reshimot by organizing the right environment. From the time of Moses until the receiving of the Torah, we constantly are drawn to the high souls that are before us, trying to adhere to them. It is because through them, we receive the Light from above, and, through them, we raise our prayer, MAN, and thus correct ourselves.
[138128]
From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/23/14

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Rabash, Letter 24: You know what Baal HaSulam said, that from the relationship between man and man one learns how to behave in the relationship between man and the Creator. This is so because the Upper Light is in complete rest, and it is necessary to always evoke the love, “Until the love of our wedding pleases.”

That is, it is shown to you from above that you have to keep awakening the love of the Creator in this way and that you must always stand guard, all day and all night, when you feel a state of day or feel a state of night.

It follows that you must evoke the heart of the friends until the flame rises by itself. By that, you will be rewarded with awakening the love of the Creator upon us.

It is known that in analog systems, all of their parts are absolutely linked with each other, as in the human body where the life of every cell depends upon the cells around it. This cell lives solely and only thanks to the sustenance that it gets from outside.

So a person cannot live alone either. If he throws himself into a forest and wants to live like a hermit detached from the whole world, he shouldn’t complain later that he cannot satisfy all of his needs. After all, we get everything required for life from the environment.

From the Shevirat HaKelim (shattering of the vessels) we see even more clearly how much each one of us is not personally ready to attract and receive any illumination, neither from the Light that Reforms, nor from the Light of fulfillment of a person who is already corrected. For all correction is in connection with others.

After this, connection is realized and exists to a particular degree, then it is possible to speak about fulfillment. So the only thing that we require is to be concerned about connection. This is because the inclination to connect is an inclination towards the Creator who is revealed within the connection.

Everyone must awaken the heart of the friend, provide him with an example of how he can himself be awakened and can yearn for the friends. It is necessary to awaken and ignite envy in each other’s heart, an inclination towards respect, and to use all means that will influence a person so that somehow he will push him forward towards connection.

We need to see our lives as a sequence of moments that come from the Creator to show us new observations all the time by placing us into new situations where we awaken our environment. For we have no other work besides awakening our environment with the goal of discovering the Creator within our mutual connection.

Serving the Creator becomes more and more concrete and concentrated in a very limited area. So Rabash writes that “all day and all night,” meaning in both of these situations, the good feelings and the bad feelings, we must understand that the Creator is giving us an opportunity at every moment to awaken the friends to mutual connection between us.

Only according to the manner in which I awaken the environment does the environment awaken me. I have no power to connect with the friends myself and I have no desire to ask for it. I get it only to the degree that I awaken them to connection. All of our work begins from this.

I cannot turn to the Creator by myself, I cannot yearn for connection, and I cannot yearn for correction. This is possible only through my awakening the others. Certainly, we first work on this within our inner circle. But we go out to external dissemination with the goal of awakening people so that they will also begin to move towards that point of connection.

To the degree that each one of us succeeds in awakening the friends, his inner circle, and the whole world, which is the outer circle, to this degree he will himself receive a desire to connect with them and will reach a place where the Creator is revealed.
[138163]
From the preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/24/14

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Question: We have a huge world group, but each one in his country or in his region doesn’t know what the others are doing. There is no cooperation between the groups so that we can carry out the same thing in parallel.

Answer: It could be that this isn’t bad. A more rapid scrutiny of all kinds of different questions is happening.

It is impossible to carry out something as an order. When you feel the necessity for each other, then this will happen. But the imperative will appear only from the need to increase the spiritual intensity of your mutual cooperation. You will feel that you cannot advance forward without feeling the other groups.

Certainly it is possible to adapt to this artificially, but the feeling of a necessity must still come from within. You can begin to work together, and after that you will see.

For example, when we organized a large dissemination activity in Israel, we began to feel how much all of our groups were necessary. We began to join them to a common work and they all went out together to the same activities, each in his own region. From this we began to feel closeness. We began to think: “How can we still connect?” Then we began to organize a convention.

We dedicated an entire evening to this. We sent buses all over the country at our expense, we brought people to us. We fed them for free, both physically and spiritually. We organized workshops, joint activities, and we prepared a nice artistic program. We began to feel that we were involved with one shared enterprise and we felt ourselves as one whole.

So first of all, you must share the same work: you with yourselves and other groups with themselves. This is because in the beginning you need to create a common basis, and only after, can you send one group to another group and exchange experiences.

Question: In this connection many contradictions appeared with us regarding what love of friends is.

Answer: You don’t have any love of friends! You are now thinking about love for them because everyone says that without them you will not get what you want. But if you could get it, you would not remember them at all! We should really look at things. Therefore, it is necessary to develop mutual participation throughout.
[138118]
From the Sochi Convention 6/10/14, Lesson 2

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From Rabash’s Article “A Blessing Does Not Dwell in Things That Can Be Counted”: It is essential to know and believe that everything is given to us by the Creator: a vessel, desire, an aspiration to bestow, and the Light, the force that one receives to act for the sake of bestowal.

However, before anything else, one has to act. In other words, before acting, one should tell himself: “Nobody will help me except myself.” After that, one has to say: “If the Creator doesn’t build a house, all exertions of those who are building it are useless.”

The main job is to make the correct efforts, i.e., preparing one’s need of the Light that Reforms (our half-coin or the six weekdays before the completion of the work.) They are all about the ascents and descents, since only by going through ups and downs can one make clarifications.

The strength of the vessel is measured by the difference between the descents and ascents. We are obligated to do our best while being in both states: descents and ascents. We cannot run away or hide from the descents. Both these states are essential and desirable. All we can do is just try to convert descents into ascents, rather than waiting for mercy from heaven to do it for us.

If one is directed correctly, one starts shaping a vessel and builds one common desire together with one’s friends, a desire to reveal the Creator for the sake of pleasing Him, i.e., discovering that the Creator rejoices in our efforts.

We can exert in all sorts of states, during the ascents and descents and variations thereof. That’s why one should always say: “Nobody can help me except myself,” since each of the states consists of sensing and reason. Our job is clarifying both of them through our connection with others and attaining one common property, the Light that has to be revealed.

These efforts will make a basis for our next step. At each level, there is a division into “Nobody will help me except myself” and “There is none else besides Him,”  and we must try to connect both principles and make it one, as it is said: “The Angel kills and revives, and brings salvation.” Our impressions collect together, adhere to a particular step, and in the end, salvation comes.

Every single time we decipher the same words and properties at a higher level with a deeper understanding. This process makes our explanation of the words “salvation,” “kill,” and “revive” more internal. All these concepts climb the spiritual ladder and go from the state of receiving to the level of bestowal.

With the help of downfalls that are called “death in the work” and recoveries that are called “ascents,” we cultivate our future salvation, i.e., we approach perfection.
[136573]
From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/3/14

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Question: Does studying Kabbalah seriously interfere with a person’s religious beliefs?

Answer: If a person is religious, Kabbalah does not prevent him from keeping his habits, traditional customs and the culture of his people. But he can no longer blindly believe in the other world that contains the reward of heaven and the punishment of hell, since Kabbalah will show him how to reveal the Creator in this life. One contradicts the other.

He gradually stops waiting for the reward that awaits him somewhere after death in another world. With difficulty, this image disappears and all his expectations shift to the present and revelation in the here and now! The entire focus shifts from the other world to this world and to this life.

In this way, his attitude gradually changes towards the “future world” and the Creator as the reality that he approaches and plans on revealing in this life. This is his goal, his purpose in life, and why he lives and carries out the advice of the Kabbalists.

For this reason, it becomes difficult for a person to remain in his previous religious environment, because he feels that he no longer relates to it in spirit. Those people still believe in reward after death and all their actions are determined by this. They even view reward in this life differently, which is why he feels different from them, and differences create distance.

But this does not lead to some kind of depreciation of religion, because this form eventually must bring the whole of mankind to Kabbalah and the actual attainment of the Creator and the Light. Kabbalists respect every faith. Religion was founded by Abraham, and will exist for as long as people need it and until they become ready to attain the Creator.

As they ripen, they will go from religion towards actual revelation, gradually changing their goal. We are forbidden to rush this process of development and can only show the possibilities that mankind has before it.

And of course, the first people to come to Kabbalah will be the nonreligious people, because they feel a greater lack of satisfaction than the religious people. A secular person thinks that he controls his life, and suddenly it is revealed that he does not have any freedom. This humiliates him and forces him to either forget or turn to Kabbalah.

Meanwhile, a religious person still thinks that he has a Creator who will take care of him, and for this reason, he will close his eyes to everything he can, and become an even bigger fanatic in order to protect himself from doubts and emptiness.

He will hate Kabbalah even more for opening his eyes to the fact that there is only one goal – the revelation of the Creator. But he is still better protected from shocks until this lack of satisfaction comes to him from nature, the Creator, and will speak within him. Then he will submit to Kabbalah.
[28181]
Excerpt from the lesson “Body and Soul,” 11/30/2010

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Question: How is it possible not to depart from an intention for a single moment and do everything for the sake of the Creator?

Answer: For this, you must be in full and absolute adherence with the friends so that, among you, the feeling called the Creator is revealed.

The Creator is your inner feeling, Bore (Bo Re), meaning come and see with your inner vision. Reach such a state, feel it, and remain within it. This is called adherence with the Creator.

However, this is attained only with a shared, collective Kli, in other words, in your right connection with the friends, with mutual wholeness, building a mosaic such that all of its borders merge into the creation of only a single desire.

This happens under the influence of the Light. From our side, only effort is required, half of the coin (the Shekel), and the second half, which is the realization of this effort, comes from Above.

Speaking about the Creator (about the love of friends) and being with the Creator (realizing the characteristic of bestowal and love) are two different things.
[138115]
From the Sochi Convention 6/10/14, Lesson 2

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Question: In order to leave the ego, is it necessary to want this?

Answer: The person does not want to leave the ego! I can play all the time, deceiving myself that I want to leave the ego. But in fact, I don’t want that, and every time in the next stage, this will become clearer and clearer, until the Upper Light will change me.

Question: Through involvement with integral education, we see how we advance and grow together with the external public, and here the sharpness of the goal, the intention, becomes blurred. It follows that we still are continuing to develop egoistically.

Answer: Every moment you must check yourself: “What is happening with me? What am I doing?” You need to watch all of your physical actions, every word!

This is constant internal work, “What motivates me? What for? What kind of conclusions must I draw from this? What kind of result will this bring me, spiritual or material?” In the end, it could be that we are slowing down our actions, but they will be more correct.

Question: What could the criteria for this truth be? Indeed, each one of us is found in his own truth, in scrutiny.

Answer: It is necessary to scrutinize the truth all the time. It is necessary to advance! In the end nothing just disappears, for all of the efforts will be gathered together.

So, it is not necessary to be clever. In other words, it is not necessary to draw conclusions on the basis of what you feel now, how you think. There could only be risk in this.

The main thing is to invest effort. If you cannot do this internally, then invest external effort. In the end, it will create a new level of consciousness.
[138111]
From the Sochi Convention 6/10/14, Lesson 2

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Question: Baal HaSulam wrote in the newspaper The Nation about the threat of the Holocaust almost eighty years ago. Is our situation today better than it was then, or does it only seem that way to us since hatred and anti-Semitism have just kept going and growing everywhere?

Answer: The situation today is much worse than what it was before the Second World War. This is because the threatening situation that is being created today is everywhere and not just for one nation and some of its allies.

This was a small area in relation to the entire world, and the Jews could rely on the help of other people and nations. Today, there is nobody and nothing to rely upon. Even the United Nations, which is the representative of all the nations, is against Israel. So, we have nowhere to flee.

Besides this, the situation today is much worse than before because it was founded on and has grown on the basis of a general breakdown, the global crisis, in everything and in all aspects. Humanity is going to lose all rational direction and lose everything. When it finds itself in such a bad state, it will blame the Jews for all of its problems and failures. We hear about these accusations from everyone because the crisis is global.

This is such a terrible situation that in comparison Hitler will seem like a little child playing pranks in his backyard. The present Holocaust could spread around the entire globe.

Question: We see that many European nations who supported us before are now united with our enemies, and so we need to mobilize all of our forces, and it could be that we are doing this, but I don’t see true understanding among the public. Everyone is more concerned about money and property, and doesn’t want to hear us that much. How do we awaken people and explain that the situation today is similar to the situation that existed before the Holocaust?

Answer: Try to bring this to people. Baal HaSulam didn’t succeed, but we must succeed in doing this. He did everything possible, and he published a newspaper when everyone was afraid of saying a word. The haters broke his windows with stones many times.

We are facing dissemination operations that are broad and powerful in scope, but we must prepare ourselves for them by searching and finding points of contact with people and influential points both in Israel and the entire world. We are succeeding every day in making our explanations more accessible. It might also be worthwhile for us to publish a newspaper and distribute it both on the street and on the Internet.

It is necessary to try to do everything possible. I am looking at the future optimistically. I see the great rate with which we now have begun dissemination. The main thing is not to reduce the rate or pressure and to organize workshops in circles and  roundtables. Then we surely will succeed and can advance people towards the goal of creation more rapidly than the troubles that come at us and overtake us from behind.

If we advance even more rapidly, then these troubles will become helpful and will serve us as a support. In the beginning, we only run away from them, and after that, we completely turn them around. We yearn for a state of “bestowal for the sake of bestowal,” and after that, a state of “reception for the sake of bestowal,” and then we use the troubles and problems for our own good.
[137920]
From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/20/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: Why was the paper The Nation that Baal HaSulam published immediately shut down?

Answer: The paper was shut down because of the mixed multitude that joined the Israelites during the exodus from Egypt. According to them, the correction is in remaining the way we are now and waiting for the Messiah, instead of connecting according to the principle of “love thy friend as thyself.”

Of course, they don’t like it when someone like us calls for the love of others and for the connection among the whole Israeli nation.

Their objection is clearly understood since when we call out for that it stands in their way of pulling people in their direction. Instead we guide people in a totally different direction, letting the whole nation know that the correction is in connection and unity, as the Torah requires.

It turns out that our Torah, our teaching, is opposite from their study. It says: “the opinion of the Torah is opposite from the opinion of the landlords.” A landlord is someone who thinks that he is his own boss, while we think that it is the Creator who has to correct us, that this is what we should pray for, and that our correction actually depends on the connection among us, when we become as one man in one heart.

They, on the other hand, want to separate everyone and to pull them apart from one another, since that way it is easier to control people. This is the style of the mixed multitude.

They are called the great affliction that accompanied our exodus from Egypt until this very day. They are the ones who bring about all the dangers and the problems of the Israeli nation, including the destruction of the first and second Temples, the exile, and today’s interferences. It is all their doing.

Their role will be revealed, but one way or the other, we have to do our job.
[137954]
From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/22/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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