Question: Why at the time of the Passover holiday is it so important to carry out physical activities in this “imaginary world”?

Answer: This is important so that we will work on them as if we were working on spiritual characteristics. The symbols of the Passover holiday indicate that we want to abstain completely from the desire to receive, to disengage from Pharaoh. After this we begin to correct it, to build the “Golden Calf,” but this is already after the Exodus from Egypt.

We escape and disengage from it, but we take with us gold and silver vessels. In the wilderness all of our desires are awakened again and we regret the loss of the meat, onions, and garlic that we ate in Egypt. All this will be afterward, but for now we simply disengage from Pharaoh.

Disengagement is possible from something that is known to you. We don’t have a feeling of our desire to receive that will make it possible for us to disengage from it because we don’t feel it. How is it possible to disengage from the “heart of stone” if I don’t feel it and don’t understand what this is?

We are in such a state, at the time of the Exodus from Egypt where we need to discover the 49 gates of Tuma’a (impurity), but we don’t know exactly what they are. So we carry out an exercise through symbolic activities in our world that show our desire to be disengaged from our desire to receive for the sake of reception, which is called “Hametz” (leavening).

At the time of the exodus from Egypt it is forbidden for us to be connected with the desire to receive. So we must carry out these conditions precisely: in every place where you can see your desire to receive for the sake of reception, you need to be disengaged from it. Do this action in the physical world also and you will see how difficult this is; it depends upon you and puts you in a unique state.

The symbols that connect branch and root, these unique times, the Kabbalists always related reverently to these conditions.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/31/14, The Zohar

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The Book of Zohar, “Pekudei,” Item 13: When the Creator wanted to create the world, He looked at the Torah and created it. And He looked at the holy name HaVaYaH, the whole Torah, and sustained the world. The world was created in three sides: wisdom, intelligence, and reason.

In wisdom, as it says, the Creator founded the Earth in wisdom. In intelligence, as it says, He founded the sky in intelligence. In reason, as it says, in His reason abysses were opened. That means that they all have a right to exist in the world. In these three the Tabernacle was built, as it says, and I shall fill it with the spirit of the Lord, with wisdom, intelligence and reason.

The Torah provides a comparison between the creation of the world and the creation of the Tabernacle. If the world was created by the upper force, the Tabernacle was created by man himself and it symbolizes a vessel in which we begin to feel the upper world.

In the corporeal world our desires depict the feeling of this world. We can feel anything according to our desire: according to its style, to its inner states. But when we are not attracted to anything specifically, I don’t perceive this “thing.” If we cut off a certain sense, a person will cease to feel certain objects or phenomena, and will even lose the ability to think, feel, investigate, and examine things.

But when we receive spiritual bestowal from Above, we begin to build a totally different vessel of perception, not of this world but of the spiritual world: a world of forces, attributes, and values. It is actually built on the basis of currents of Light, knowledge, and upper feelings that descend upon us and gradually form the image of the upper world in us.

Just as our body was made of elementary matter and then there were stem cells from which living tissues were formed, we also begin to create the image of the spiritual vessel out of tissues of elementary stem cells, which on the whole is similar to our corporeal body but in a spiritual form.

It has the same organs and arrangement as in the human body but they are in potential and are qualitative. So the spiritual image is called a human being, just as our body is. We build it from the elements that we receive from Above. The Torah is the plan for building a human being, a spiritual vessel that will eventually be filled with wholeness. Just as our physical body is filled with a corporeal life force, so is this spiritual image (the spiritual vessel, the spiritual body) filled with a force called Light, or the spiritual life.

The only difference is that the existence of the spiritual part is totally independent of the corporeal body. The corporeal body may die while this part remains because it already belongs to the world of forces that manage all of creation.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book”10/16/13

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The Book Of Zohar, “Pekudei,” Item 3: It says how much goodness You have prepared for those who fear You, and have acted for those who find shelter in You against people. How much do humans have to see and to learn about the ways of the Lord since everyday a voice decrees and says, beware dwellers of the world, shut the doors of sins, leave the net that hunts people before your feet are caught in this net.

There is a perpetual spinning wheel in the world, which means that the Din (judgment) from Above ascends and descends, raising people and lowering people. Woe to those whose feet have been rejected by the wheel, since they fall into the depth prepared for the wicked of the world.

We learn about two ways of evolving here because a person is given freewill but it is very limited since the plan of creation must be carried out and it is running. The freewill is in realizing this plan independently and in the best way possible and executing it voluntarily.

Even if we see how beneficial this plan really is and how essential it is, our ego still opposes it and doesn’t let us carry it out. And it was originally done on purpose because the two forces, the positive and the negative (negative inside a person and positive on the outside) operate on us and influence us; between them we discover our freewill.

If a person is created by nature, the Creator, the upper force, the Light, he cannot be totally free; he is under the influence of this force like everything in nature.

How can our thoughts and desires be free so that we will be able to exist independently of the Creator? We are given two forces that descend from Above simultaneously, the ego and the attribute of bestowal that appears in us; both are under the control of the upper force and develop in parallel. Between them there is a mutual struggle, rejection, conflict.

If we place ourselves between them, we can choose a state in which the attraction on one side and the attraction on the other side balance one another. The balance point between these two forces is the middle line, and being in it we feel that we are totally free of all the egoistic nature and of the upper nature.

However, there is a problem here: How can we choose anything? A person cannot operate like a donkey. If there are two totally identical objects before him, he doesn’t know what to choose, the moment he feels a yearning for one of them there is an immediate identical yearning for the other, and he is between them, feeling split not knowing what to choose.

Thus we experience very unpleasant feelings: On the one hand, nothing seems to operate on us here, and, on the other hand, we don’t know what to do. It is in this state that a person has the option to create the source of a new movement inside him. This point is the starting point from which a person can raise the human being in him. Before he was like a puppet that the upper Providence operated by pulling its strings.

Only by raising the human being in us do we begin to feel how streams of Light descend from Above and flow into the sea, into Malchut of the world of Atzilut and this is never filled but actually leads us forward.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book”10/16/13

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Baal HaSulam, Shamati #179, ” Three Lines”: The first line is considered right, regarded as Vak without a Rosh (head), considered “faith.” The second line is considered left, attainment. And then they are in dispute, since faith contradicts attainment, and attainment contradicts faith.

Then there is the discernment of the middle line, considered Vak de Gar, or Hochma and Hassadim, or the right and left lines, integrated in one another. This means that he receives attainment to the extent that he has faith.

Question: Why does faith contradict attainment and attainment contradicts faith?

Answer: Faith and attainment cannot be integrated. Faith is called bestowal. If I am on the right line, it stops me from receiving at the same time. If I have the intention of in order to receive on the left line, it doesn’t allow me to bestow.

I cannot do both at the same time. It is like entering your home and stealing from yourself and at the same time giving yourself a present. It is impossible! The revelation of the Creator is opposite from bestowal upon the Creator. Revelation means that I am using Him, enjoying Him, filling my vessels.

Is it possible in such an action to bestow upon the Creator? It is possible only if I correct my intentions and receive because He wants it and He enjoys my receiving. If I really correct myself this way, so that my receiving is only in order to delight Him, it is called to receive in order to bestow.

But in order to reach this state, I have to prepare myself so that I will really receive above my desire to receive and my intention is steadfastly in order to bestow so that I will not be tempted to receive for myself, but so that it will really be an action in order to bestow that will lead me to adhesion with the Creator.

I have to calculate precisely the limit that I can receive. There are many levels of building the vessel of the middle line here: Ibur (conception), Yenika (suckling), and Mochin (mind).
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/31/14, Shamati #179

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Question: How can we want to connect if we only seek what is pleasant for our ego?

Answer: We have to yearn for the corrected state or at least ask that we should find it attractive. You can study out of curiosity, out of a desire to know something, to hear; you are pulled from Above by some bait.

But when you are already in a group, your desire has to undergo some treatment, a change, a new manner. It isn’t just the desire to receive that wants to enjoy wisdom, to know the future, to become stronger and more dominant in this life. This egoistic desire is only the beginning to entice a person, but later it has to change.

When we begin to work with it from the outside: through the group, using the Surrounding Light, the desire begins to change and a person doesn’t know what exactly he should do with it. He suddenly loses all interest and doesn’t want anything. The group and his state don’t seem right and he doesn’t like them. He doesn’t see any nice reward for his efforts to come to the lesson every morning and to work in the group. He is not ready for that because in his heart and mind he doesn’t believe that he will get any reward, and so he escapes.

We have to work on changing our desire. You can only receive the power, the patience, and perseverance needed for this from the environment. The main thing in our work is not to ask for or demand changes from the Creator, but to actually establish connections in the group so that you will respect it and see that it is great and sublime, since otherwise you will run away from it.

The Light comes to you from Above according to your connection to the environment. If you are not connected to your friends in the group on its level, then you will not be allowed to advance from Above. If advancement comes from Above against your ego, you will simply run away. But if you are connected to the group and are under its influence on all sides, then the Upper Light can influence you to the same degree and perform changes in you. These changes are unpleasant, but thanks to your connection with the society, you don’t escape.

People who don’t work on the connection with the group usually leave, or even worse, they begin to see that the advancement is wrong and they blame the society. Since they have to justify themselves for leaving the group, they are sure that the group is bad. Because they are not connected to the group, the Upper Light throws them off the spiritual path.

So if you want to advance, you have to constantly worry about the connection with the friends, which is actually the whole exile in Egypt and the whole redemption from exile; it is the condition of mutual guarantee and unity, of being as one man in one heart at the gathering at Mount Sinai, all the forty years in the desert, and then the entrance to the land of Israel. All these states are determined only by increasingly stronger connection with the group.

We don’t have to think about the Upper Light and about the Creator now. All this will come if you connect with the friends and prepare yourself for the changes. They will not be pleasant because you are approaching the attribute of bestowal and detaching yourself from the attribute of receiving, which is totally opposite our nature. So it is possible only if the environment supports you.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/30/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: What is the Tabernacle that Moses builds?

Answer: The Tabernacle is our corrected desire in which the upper force is revealed.

Our attributes gradually come closer and begin to complement and emphasize one another according to the law of equivalence of form. They don’t destroy one another but clarify one another. When they become equal, they will totally resemble each other in the attribute of bestowal and will merge together with the Creator. This is the unity between the created being and the Upper Light called the Tabernacle.

In Perush Gadol (the great commentary), it says that Moses and Aaron account for the use of the people’s contributions for the building of the Tabernacle; that is, for the Lights that descend from Above and the materials that come from below.

In other words, the desire that comes from below and the Light that comes from above merge into one image of a spiritual object, for example the Tabernacle. But the Tabernacle is merely an external means of correction, while the object of the correction is the person himself.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/16/13

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Question: What is the “unleavened bread”?

Answer: Unleavened bread (Matza) is a connection between Malchut and Bina from which a person has nothing but the ability to revive his soul. And he is ready for this. The poor bread becomes fulfillment for him.

This means an internal readiness: You are still in Egypt, in exile, but are already ready for redemption. This illumination called Matza enlivens your soul, and you are ready and agree to it.

All of the efforts that are invested by us in Egypt are designed to give us the feeling of exile and to awaken the desire for redemption, as it is written, (Exodus 2:23) “…and the children of Israel sighed from the labor.” When we reach the end of the period of the exile in Egypt, either by way of “I will  hasten it” or by the way of “in its time,” for most this is through a combination of both called “land”; the Light comes from above and raises our desire to enjoy the sparks above. And this is redemption.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/27/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Baal HaSulam, “Shamati #41,” “What is Greatness and Smallness in Faith”: It is written, “and they believed in the Lord, and in His servant Moses.” We must know that the Lights of Pesach (Passover) have the power to impart the Light of faith. Yet, do not think that the Light of faith is a small thing, because greatness and smallness depend only on the receivers.

The whole issue of Pesach is that a person receives power from Above, because without it we are certainly unable to do anything. We are always driven by some force: either by the force of the desire to receive that we were born with, “I have created an evil inclination,” or by the force of the desire to bestow, “I have created the Torah as a spice.”

We behave according to the balance between these forces, although we are given freewill, so that due to the environment and the different actions we perform with the environment, we can draw the desire to bestow, which means the Light that illuminates upon me, so that it will give me its attribute. Thus, we acquire the Light of faith, faith is bestowal.

If more Light shines on me, I rise like a flower towards the sun, towards the rain. If the Light doesn’t shine, I wither. Everything depends only on how the Light influences me.

There are special times called an awakening from Above. Sometimes these are good times and sometimes bad times, which means that either Din (judgment) or mercy is revealed. This also depends on me, on how hard I try to take advantage of these times, of these special states.

Pesach is a time of special mercy according to its branch and root, a time of a great Light that raises us above the desire to receive and takes us out of Egypt. We have to try to make the best of this opportunity. Of course, the exodus from Egypt is achieved by great collective efforts.

But when we make efforts, we discover that we cannot do anything, not even the right effort. Although we decide to do whatever we can, the next moment we already forget about it or don’t manage to do it. So we gradually form the right request, about which it is written: “and the children of Israel sighed from the work.”

By making the right request for acquiring the Light of faith, we are rewarded and ascend above the desire to receive. Now it doesn’t dominate us and we are actually the ones who dominate it. This is called the exodus from Egypt. We don’t leave it; we are in it, but we receive the power to make decisions, and from now on, the Light of faith determines everything, not the force of receiving. This is the exodus.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/30/14, Shamati #41

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Baal HaSulam, Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot, Item 10: The Torah was given only to men of heart. That is, those who have found the heart to love Him, whom the sages called the “wise of heart,” since they no longer have the beastly soul, pulling down, and the evil inclination does not rule over them, and their heart is open to wisdom. 

He interprets and says that the words are as corpses and the Taamim as souls. If one does not understand the Taamim, it is similar to exerting oneself counting pages and words in a book on medicine. This exertion will not yield a remedy.

He wishes to say that one is compelled to find the means to acquire the above-mentioned possession. It is because then one can taste the flavors of Torah, which is the interior wisdom and its mysteries, and the flavors of Mitzva, which are the interior love and the desire for Him.

We should be very careful that the study and our engagement in the wisdom of Kabbalah will be for the practical correction and not lead to idle actions. We have to demand the real and the correct change which means to get closer to the form of bestowal. The more we can change ourselves internally from the attribute of receiving to the attribute of bestowal, the more we can understand what the Kabbalah books say and the more we will be able to properly participate in creation and in the connection with the Creator.

There is nothing more a person can do in this world but attain the tastes of the Torah, the vessels of bestowal, as quickly as possible. This essential goal should be attained in every action we do and every breath we take. If you have reached the wisdom of Kabbalah, make sure that you only engage in it in order to attain the attribute of bestowal. Then you will understand the Creator’s actions and your state in the eternal world.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/20/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Baal HaSulam, Article, “This is for Judah”: That bread, which our fathers ate in the land of Egypt.

Haggadah – “The Mitzva of eating Matza was given to the children of Israel even before they departed Egypt, relating to the future exodus, which was to be in haste. It follows that the Mitzva of eating a Matza was given to them while they were still enslaved….”

The Mitzva about eating Matza was given in advance because the Exodus from Egypt happened suddenly, in haste. Suddenly the order came: “In another moment go!,” “And what about the bread, how is it possible to leave without bread?”

So the Mitzva was given in advance to prepare everything so that at the moment of the Exodus, the escape, we would have everything necessary. Even now we are doing this because we are very happy about this, that all of the redemptions happen suddenly. Therefore, we are in hope all the time that at every moment the redemption could come.

Just as they said to them in Egypt: “You are leaving now!” that is what they will say to us today; indeed in a little while there will be a proclamation and we will all go out; we will begin to rise to the level of the redemption. Therefore we are so happy to celebrate this holiday, remembering this miracle every year.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/27/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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