Question: What kind of connection do we need to correct between us, we don’t feel it?

Answer: We must attain reciprocity so that nobody will be working on himself, but only outside of himself, for others. If each one works outside of himself, then with this we create a network of connection between us called mutual guarantee.

Being a guarantor means that I work for you, you work for him, he for someone else, and that one for me. I don’t know to whom what I am doing is going.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/27/14

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Question: What efforts must one make to reach spiritual action?

Answer: Efforts should be applied only to connecting with the group; this is the only thing that we are missing. We are the result of the shattering; we are its shards, so all of our activities are directed only towards connection between us.

There is nothing in any of us to correct! This is a bitter mistake that constantly delve into and blame ourselves. This is a Klipa that sucks all of the powers out of a person. I have nothing to correct in me; only to correct the connection between us needs to be corrected.

This is a difficult and fatal mistake; if we were to refrain from it, we would attain correction very quickly. The whole problem is that we don’t pay attention to the place where we truly must correct the vessel in order to reach Divinity.

We only need to correct our connection. We don’t need to look at ourselves and others: I can be good, I can be bad with horrendous characteristics, but this is not at all relevant to correction. Correction is only  for the connection between us.

It’s like a volleyball net where the main thing is the strings and not the knots. All the knots are egoistic and individual people. They have appeared in our world until our time and are in control by force. But today they can no longer dominate because all of our power has passed to the strings. A completely different approach has begun.

So there is nothing to correct in the person himself, only his attitude to the group. Only there is his free choice and surety realized. Shifting the emphasis from personal correction to general correction is called passing from ethics, from morality, to the wisdom of connection, to the wisdom of Kabbalah.

It’s very important to understand this approach because we still act individualistically and look only at ourselves. But this is not associated with discovering evil or its correction. Therefore it’s said that the opinion of Torah is opposite to the opinion of the masses, that is, even those who want to fix themselves.

This defines our approach to everything in life: education, culture, and politics; this is radically different from the usual. This is a completely opposite attitude because we don’t ascribe any importance to that which everyone pays attention. What sense is there to be involved with things if it doesn’t help?

The whole world is now in crisis because they are paying attention to the person instead of paying attention and correcting the connection between people. Therefore all of the rulers are losing their power and ability to control anything as the world becomes more and more connected.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/27/14

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Question: In our world we clearly see the trend toward separation and isolation. But where is the second trend here, the yearning for connection? I don’t see it.

Answer: The second trend is revealing my dependence upon everyone. It turns out that two forces are acting upon you: on one hand, you reject everyone and on the other hand, you depend upon them. These two poles are constantly in front of you.

If from above they want to advance you then they will always influence you with the help of these two forces. Just as the Creator promised to Abraham, (Genesis 21:12) …it is through Isaac that offspring shall be continued. Through him will be born many grandsons will be born that will grow to a huge family, and on the other hand, He adds, (Genesis 22:2) …and bring him up there for a burnt-offering.

If the Creator had just told him to kill Isaac, it would have been more understandable. And even if he blessed him with a multitude of descendants, this also would have been clear. But, how can the two statements be realized together?

Mankind is in this state now. On one hand, total mutual dependence between everyone is evident and on the other hand, the separation is so great that no one is able to talk with the other. Thirty years ago the relationships between people were much better; today European countries cannot reach an agreement between them.

Question: But where in the world do we see an inclination towards connection?

Answer: There is no inclination towards connection; rather, there is only a discovery of the picture of how much we depend upon everyone. And on the other hand, according to our inner feeling, we want to disconnect.

For example, Scotland wants to break away from England even though it’s clear that both of them would be worse off because there are a multitude of joint enterprises. One has coal mines and the other has coal fueled power stations; one nation has fish and the other restaurants that serve fish; this dependence is recognized by all. Why should they be separated?

If this assured them monetary gain, then it would be understandable, but it doesn’t. They would gain only one thing: quenching their hatred. That is, for the sake of the natural desire that has no material justification, they are even ready to lose economically, provided that hatred will win out.

This inclination exists throughout the world, soon we will return to feudal fragmentation. For example, in Germany two hundred years ago, there were dozens of small principalities. We are returning to those times again because we cannot correct the mutual hatred.

But we won’t return exactly to that past condition because of the mutual dependence. One has water, a second has bread, a third has meat, a fourth has fish, a fifth has cars, a sixth has medical equipment, and so forth. In spite of it all, I depend upon everyone; so why do all of these borders exist?

Hatred obligates me to establish borders and to close them. And life shows us that we are within an integral system that we have reached as a result of the development of our desire. So what can I do if they obligate me to connect with everyone? In this case only war can solve the problem; it will destroy the borders and the entire world. Then everything will be just the way I want it: rigid boundaries, separation, and my hatred could pour out in full. When we have no choice, we will begin to fight. This is the result if we let the ego run wild.

On our level there is no other solution. The solution is found above, above the two opposites. Hatred and convergence are incompatible with each other; there is a short circuit between them. It’s impossible to connect them directly; we must put some kind of adapter between them and transform the hatred into love. Then it will be possible to connect them.

But how do we transform hatred into love? In our world no power exists that can transform our egoistic desire into a desire to bestow. Therefore we need the science of connection, the wisdom of Kabbalah. It teaches us how to organize our environment in order to attract the inner power of unity through its exercises. This force will gradually correct us.

And then, from the corrected power of connection, we will begin to feel new relationships, a new perception of the world, because we have been changed. Within this new comprehension, within the relationship of love instead of the relationship of hatred, we will see a new reality. In the previous reality, I pulled everything towards me; my view was to derive personal benefit from all.

But through a change in orientation to caring for the good of society, I discover completely different properties and powers that act in reality that are called the upper world. All this will be discovered within my new relationship with the others.

Just as I now discover this world through my egoistic relationship with the others, I will discover the upper world within the altruistic relationship with the others until all of the worlds, all of the levels, will reach a state of Infinity. Everything depends only on changes in the perception of reality.

It is written (Shabbat 151b): “There is no difference between this world and the next world except how the governments will work,” meaning that everything depends on the orientation of the desire to receive: concern for the self or for the other. The nations have already discovered how much they depend upon one another and understand that it’s impossible to fight against a nation that supplies it with oil or produce. If I eliminate it, what will happen to me? This is like burning a neighborhood grocery where you buy all of your needs. Where will I get all that I need in order to exist?

But the hatred is so great that it doesn’t allow us to think logically, “It makes no difference if I will die, as long as it will happen to my neighbor first!” That is how the law of hatred works, and the intellect is left powerless. Emotion has precedence over intelligence. In sum, the intellect is a slave of desire. First the desire is awakened and then the mind helps to realize this desire.

The intellect helps me to get what I want, not what I planned and decided! This is the whole problem. All of creation is a desire for pleasure and all of our thoughts are directed only towards this. Therefore, I don’t see a millimeter beyond the limits of my ego; it makes no difference how wise I am. Only the science of connection can help, meaning the wisdom of Kabbalah.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/25/14

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Question: Why is the work of fulfilling the desire of the other called an “intention”?

Answer: This is called an “intention” because I use myself, everything that I have, in order to fulfill the desire of the other.

I can work only with the desires. There is work called preparing the Kelim: This is bestowal for the sake of bestowal, the level of Bina. And there is direct spiritual work, receiving in order to bestow.

But I always work with the desire. If I work with my desires, this is called “in order to receive,” and if I work with the desires of the other, this is called “in order to bestow.”

In every case, the work is done with the desires and the intention shows for whose good I am acting: in order to receive or in order to bestow. The intention is my work plan. The intention in order to bestow means that I work with the desire of the other above my own desire and use all of my ability to help him and to fulfill him.

But essentially, his desires are mine. They simply pour some kind of dust in my eyes which makes it impossible for me to see that they are mine and that all of this is myself. So I work trying to fulfill these desires, which are seemingly foreign to me, but essentially I am fulfilling myself. After this I see that all of this belongs to me. So why did I have to work for the sake of such a strange bestowal? This was so that I would need to create a relationship with another and essentially feel the Creator through him.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/24/14

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Question: It says that love was revealed in the exile in Egypt. What correction is performed in Egypt?

Answer: There are many corrections there: The detachment from Jacob, the detachment from Joseph, the connection to Moses, all this is on top of the desire to receive that constantly grows; the end of the seven years of famine and the plagues of Egypt are all many inner discernments because they are the preparation of the vessel. It says the whole difference between exile and redemption is the letter Aleph (Hebrew), in the revelation of the Light, the revelation of the Creator. In exile you have to discover to what extent you are missing the Creator because without Him you cannot connect with others.

Only when you accumulate and collect all these desires, passions, the sorrow of not being able to reveal the Creator, which means the attribute of bestowal among the friends; when you regret that you cannot connect with them and you still make an effort to discover love, the connection without any account of yourself, and you cannot do so; you reach the ten plagues of Egypt by which you already detach from Pharaoh. Before that you couldn’t detach from him.

Moses in you is ready to do so, but the people of Israel are not. To the last moment your desires only hear that they should come out of Egypt, that they should prepare themselves, that these corrupt desires will receive blows, and that the desires that are focused on the Creator will be able to differ. It’s very hard work, but this shouldn’t stop us since this is the work in Egypt. Otherwise, we will not reach redemption. We will not be awarded with the Creator’s help, whose “strong hand will lead the Israelites out of Egypt,” until we reach the end of our exertion, by trying to overcome all the problems, failures, and the heavy feeling.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/26/14, The Zohar

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The Torah, “Exodus” (VaYakhel), 36: 8, 36:13, 36:20: Then all the wise-hearted people of the performers of the work made the Mishkan out of ten curtains [consisting] of twisted fine linen, and blue, purple, and crimson wool. A cherubim design, the work of a master weaver, he made them. And he made fifty golden clasps, and he fastened the curtains to one another with the clasps; so the Mishkan became one. And he made the planks for the Mishkan of acacia wood, upright.

This is about the creation of the anti-egoistic Masach (screen), returning the Light, and all the other spiritual actions that are only in order to bestow. And he made the planks for the Mishkan (Tabernacle) of acacia wood, upright, which means that the wise-hearted raised the Masach to the desired height and thus left the ego under the Masach.

The clasps of gold and the other jewels symbolize our egoistic desires, everything that is so close to our ego. If we show these things to animals, for example, they will not even look at them, but they are very important to the human ego. Humans differ from animals in that. This is actually what our ego loves. Thus the ascent to a certain level symbolizes the adaptation of the Masach to a person’s ego, to what he can bear and stand against.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 7/10/13

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The Torah, “Exodus” (VaYakhel), 36:24, 36:33: And he made forty silver sockets under the planks; two sockets under one plank for its two square pegs, and two sockets under one plank for its two square pegs. And he made the middle bar to penetrate in the midst of the planks from one end to the other end.

A socket is the attribute of Bina that has to be the foundation for the building of the attribute of bestowal. The pillars, the bars, the keys, the doors, the entrances, the exits, the passages, and more refer to the composition of the desires and how they should be connected (permanently or temporarily), which desires should the Masachim (screens) be made of, etc.

The desires can be internal or external. For example, ten Sefirot of ascent can be round, which means to surround the whole structure of the soul just like our body that has internal and external organs that are surrounded by the skin, and around us there is an additional world, which is our internality, but which seems to be on the outside.

These are the methods of composing the corrected desires. After all, the main thing is how exactly they should be incorporated into one another, in which connection.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 7/10/13

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The Torah, “Exodus” (VaYakhel), 36:4-36:6: Then all the wise men that were doing the work of the Holy came, each one from his work, which they had been doing. And they spoke to Moses, saying: “The people are bringing very much, more than is enough for the labor of the articles which the Lord had commanded to do.” So Moses commanded, and they announced in the camp, saying: “Let no man or woman do any more work for the offering for the Holy.” So the people stopped bringing.

Question: What should we make of the fact that the people give the Creator more contributions than needed?

Answer: It is about our realization that there is a limit to the self-restriction on every level.

We gradually begin to create a general vessel (Kli), a general desire that is aimed at bestowal, mutual love, and incorporation into one another. Here, we should know how to work with our mutual incorporations since there are small, medium, and large states of each soul and of all together. The correction and the assembly of the corrected parts are gradual, and all the parts are not mixed together, only in certain measures.

All the work is fulfilled above the Masach (screen), which means that a person must limit himself in spiritual bestowal, despite the great pressures and yearnings. That’s the interesting part.

Question: However, it says that Moses limits the nation here.

Answer: Moses is my part. I must learn to manage both the attributes of bestowal and the attributes of receiving and to work with them like with two reins in order to advance correctly. It is because I cannot work only in order to bestow since my ego doesn’t disappear. It turns out that I exist between bestowal and receiving. Only that way! I create myself from these two attributes.

I don’t dissolve in the Creator and don’t fall into egoistic darkness, but exist in the correct state. I hold the two reins and, thus, advance toward wholeness and eternity.

The two forces stem from the Creator. He is the right line, the attribute of bestowal, and He created the left line, the egoistic force. If I adhere to one line or the other, I am totally under His control, but if I hold the two reins and perform the right mutual actions between them, it is as if I build the middle line between them, and that is me.

By receiving two opposite attributes from Him, I reach the correct combination of the two inside me on every level of my ascent. By incorporating the two properties with the right combination between them within me more and more, I grow, and from a small human being turn to a bigger, more mature human being until I become equivalent with the Creator.

This spiritual movement seems very complicated at first since the two opposites must support one another and not negate each another. Now we cannot compare this inside us because we are on one line: either in total bestowal or in total receiving. After all, our world is absolute egoism and the spiritual world is absolute bestowal.

We may imagine something but it is very difficult to exist in the middle between these two properties. But this is actually what we have to do. Then, we will be free from the Creator since that’s what He wants, just like we want our kids to become totally independent.

We can reach that only if we receive everything from Him and focus ourselves on using all the forces in the creation correctly,

By attaining the levels of the ascent where all the forces cooperate in harmony, a person begins to understand to what extent it is between them that we actually begin to feel the outcome of their correct mutual connection, which is called Adam (a human being), the middle part, which the Creator cannot create by himself.

He created a future image of man and we create man which is the image of the Creator. It is a totally different phenomenon when we sculpt ourselves into the Creator, thus we have some properties of Bezalel, which are already in us. All we have to do is reveal them, collect them, and gradually develop them.

When we speak about the joy in the spiritual advancement, we refer to the joy that we feel in the connection of these two lines.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/7/13

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Rabash’s article: “The Importance of the Groom”: The sages talked about “dancing before the bride,” but they never mentioned “dancing before the bridegroom.” About the wedding meal, it is said: “Those who enjoy the Groom’s meal…” The bridegroom stands for the Torah, and the bride, faith, and faith must be above reason.

Reason cannot tolerate constant rises and downfalls that are called “a dance” like feet that rise and then fall during a dance. Lifting one’s feet (“raglaim” comes from “meraglim” – spies) signifies “faith above reason, ”taking his feet off the ground (desire).

However, one doesn’t always have the strength to go above reason; so one places one’s feet back on the ground. This process is called Dancing before the Bride.

The Upper Light never changes; it constantly stays in a state of absolute rest. It is the source of complete absolute good that never changes. All changes occur solely in man. If one is engaged in work for the Creator, i.e., wants to reach a state similar to the Creator—bestowal and love—then one has to work for the “groom” and the “bride” and transform himself into a bride worthy of the groom.

We must always say the bride is good-looking and virtuous irrespective of how she actually looks: Sometimes she is really beautiful, sometimes not, regardless of whether she stimulates the desire to work in a man or not. These changes cannot happen accidentally; this is how Reshimot (spiritual genes) manifest and make us go through various states.

Only the changes that are related to the Creator should be taken into consideration; we have to base our work only on these issues until we sense that there is none besides the Creator who is good and does good.

Our vessel is called “a Bride,” Malchut, a constantly changing will to receive pleasure. Our job is to work on top of all possible changes so that we receive a state at which there are no changes at all. By staying inside the will to receive, regardless of any changes that take place in it, we build a vessel above the receiving desire that also is undergoing constant alterations, but in a form that is opposite to the desire to be pleased.

The bigger the minus in our will to receive, the bigger the plus we can attain in the vessel that is created above the desire to receive pleasure. This is how we “dance.” We are happy to dance since this work turns into a very exciting adventure for us.

Impressions that transpire in our uncorrected will to receive serve only one purpose: we begin appreciating a chance to rise above our egoistic desire. It is called a dance before the bride.”

When we are done with this work, we are treated to the “groom’s meal.” A bridegroom stands for the Torah that is given to us as a gift. One understands that one doesn’t deserve such a great and holy present, but due to the work one has completed, one becomes prepared to adhere to and merge with the groom. One has already built a foundation for that.

When one reaches a state that allows him to see his bride, who is sometimes beautiful and sometimes ugly, as perfect and righteous, she becomes his real bride. “Beauty” denotes the Light of Hochma whereas “piety” stands for the Light of Hassadim. In other words, the Light of Hochma is ready to dress in the Light of Hassadim. This is how a person corrects his vessel and arrives at the groom’s meal.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/12/14

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Question: It is said that “The Lord will open the eyes of his heart.” What does the “eyes of his heart” mean and how can they be opened?

Answer: To open the eyes of the heart means that the heart is wise and that it understands. Eyes are the vessel of Hochma and the heart is the vessel of Bina. When these vessels connect as Aba ve Ima (father and mother), as Hochma and Bina, a person begins to feel Hochma within the heart.

Our heart is a desire to receive, a desire to enjoy. The heart is corrected when it acquires the attribute of bestowal, the Light of Hassadim. I can understand the hidden reality that manages us according to the Light of Hassadim that is dressed in the heart. Then my heart becomes a wise heart, a heart that understands, a heart that feels.

It doesn’t simply feel the corporeal desire to enjoy but also the true reality. This means that I have acquired the wisdom of the heart. There is a correction in the desire called a heart that is performed by the Light of Hassadim and then Hochma is dressed in Hassadim. Then it is said that the heart understands, and such people are called wise-hearted, since they have received the correction of Hassadim and of their desires. The Hassadim are so corrected that they can also receive the Light of Hochma and receive in order to bestow, then the heart begins to see.
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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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