The Torah, “Exodus” (VaYakhel), 35:30-35:34: Moses said to the children of Israel: “See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. He has imbued him with the spirit of God, with wisdom, with insight, and with knowledge, and with [talent for] all manner of craftsmanship to do master weaving, to work with gold, silver, and copper, with the craft of stones for setting and with the craft of wood, to work with every [manner of] thoughtful work. And He put into his heart [the ability] to teach, both him and Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.”

Bezalel is the attribute that understands how to collect all the separate parts of the soul and make them parts that are connected correctly: where to glue them, where to weave, where to cut, where to connect, and where to match. It is the work of a sculptor.

Today, humanity is in a state of terrible contradiction and is antagonistically controlled in a rigid system. It is impossible to bring it back to zero and to start fixing it from there, like a poorly running machine that you stop and begin delving into, checking its separate parts, disassembling and reassembling.

After all, the system of humanity constantly is working and constantly changing! As it changes, we must constantly perceive which changes we can make during its wrong movement in order to gradually fix it. However, it constantly rejects this.

Can you imagine what would happen if we began doing something with humanity now, with the banking system, politicians, the infrastructure of pedagogy and education, with problems of different religions and beliefs, with everything that exists in society? If we do something somewhere, others immediately would want to put everything back on the egoistic track.

So, we should approach this system when we understand how we can begin doing something with it because it continues to roll ahead egoistically. How can we make changes in it so that the ego will not manage to control and use them for its own good, and the small corrections that we make in the system will manage to change the ego, although it controls the whole system?

This is a totally new approach! How can we move to it, even if you were given the opportunity? But no one gives you this chance. After all, you are not a king and not the Creator of this world! You simply understand that it must be changed somehow, but how?

Therefore, we have a property called “Bezalel’ (baa–El, purpose), meaning “in the shadow of the Creator,” when a person wants the Creator to work and that he should be His shadow. This is actually why he follows the Creator, so that He can create, weave, and glue all the parts of the general soul correctly. It is total self-annulment and full adaptation with the Creator’s shadow. It is as if the Creator operates inside a person by making his heart wise.

In other words, it is such self-annulment, convergence and adhesion with the Creator, that, thanks to it, a person can begin to change the world and create the corrected center of the world around which everything else is built.

Thus, by merging in the center of the group, we find the attribute of Bezalel there, by which we can continue to act by gradually filling the general collective vessel we have created until the illumination, the Creator, is revealed in it.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/7/13

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Question: If clear and absolute laws are working in a system, how can a person take the system out of balance? Unless the person is outside of nature?

Answer: The entire system is connected and works according to absolute laws. But within this integral system there is a unique layer that begins to grow, and this is called “man.”

This layer has the ability to shake the system up, to take it out of balance and each time to restore balance, and again to take it out of balance even more and restore it to greater balance. For this layer called “man” there are constantly such possibilities. After all, this is the way this layer acquires a feeling and intelligence of the entire system, by taking it out of balance and restoring it, again and again.

Certainly this layer doesn’t do this with its own powers: The system goes out of balance through a unique program for that layer called “man.” There are unique powers and formulas that take the system out of balance with respect to humans. The upper world is not changed, only its image in regard to us, in regard to the bubble in which we are found, changes.

This is done so that we will become familiar with the system and will require it to return to balance. Through our becoming aware of the lack of balance and demand it to return to a state of balance, we acquire intelligence and emotion, we become familiar with the general program of the entire system. And then we begin to shrink and expand, to inhale and exhale, and in this way we become familiar with the system.

Question: So does a person have free choice or not?

Answer: The free choice of the person is in gathering with people like himself in this system and together demanding balance, wanting to return the system to balance. This is a person’s unique freedom. This is only through work in a group with people like himself. He can gradually expand the layer and include all of humanity, connecting with them and demanding balance and harmony. This demand is called a prayer or raising MAN.

We must strive for change. To the extent that you balance yourself with the system, you will begin to feel it. To the degree that you can shrink your “I,” to this degree you expand and extend the “we,” and in this area you will feel the balance and harmony of all the forces that are working there in real nature. Only then will you be able to understand what is happening.

There is no greater joy than the resolution of difficulties. Precisely by your inclusion in a state of balance and harmony in which everything is balanced, Light comes from above and fills all the Kelim, and this produces true joy.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/14, Writing of Baal HaSulam

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If I yearn for faith above reason and make efforts to get closer to others and ask for help from Above in order to do so, I receive the hardening of the heart each time. The exile and the redemption arrive alternately. Exile is a descent and redemption is an ascent, so I am constantly either in a state of ascent or of descent.

Kabbalists explain that both the ascents and descents help us advance, as it is said: “The Torah will come out of Zion (stemming from the root “exits, descents”).” Redemption means that I adhere to someone else with all my heart ready to connect to him. And it is all above the repulsion and the hatred; I don’t try to erase anything, but advance along the middle line.

When I manage to reach a certain connection, I immediately feel the chilling cold in our relationship with any person or group, and they become indifferent to me. But I should understand that this indifference and the hardening of the heart already belong to the next level.

The faith and the inclination to connect, I had previously, turn into an inclination to separate. So I have to work on returning to connection again with the help of the group, with its support and mutual guarantee and the Light that Reforms, but later I will cool down again.

We know that in the descent from the top down Malchut of the upper Partzuf becomes Keter of the lower. So the moment I ascend, I attain my Keter, which is the maximum bestowal I can only imagine and want, and it immediately becomes Malchut of the upper, egoistic receiving. The ascent occurs according to this principle.

We can explain this only from the perspective of the Reshimot (reminiscences): if there are Reshimot of Aviut (thickness) of the root phase and Reshimot of dressing in the next level, then on the next level it is already phase one and two and on an upper level it is phase two and three. Thus, there is a constant reversal: exile and redemption, exile and redemption, like inversions as one develops at the expense of another.

The main thing is not to be impressed by the descents and ascents but to constantly be impressed by the pace of the changes. The more changes there are the better! Israel are those who hasten time, who sanctify time. Time, which means the pace of the advancement, is the main thing for Israel.

We don’t need to pay attention to the changes we go through. We don’t need to delve into a state and sink into it. On the contrary, the main thing is to go through as many changes as possible.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/25/14

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The Book of Zohar, Chapter “Beresheet” (Genesis), Item 379: In the passage “and the Almighty created the firmament” refers to the highest firmament Atzilut. However, what is established in Atzilut is formed and spreads down in all the levels of BYA, down to the bottom of the lower sea.

Question: What is the firmament?

Answer: The firmament is a boundary to which the creation can rise and merge with the Upper, not above it. Above the firmament are vessels (Kelim) that the creation can receive, but we live in the space between the sky and the earth, in AHP.

Question: By reaching the complete justification of the Creator, one achieves a state called “complete righteous” and becomes the firmament that connects the upper world with the lower one. Is that so?

Answer: The righteous is the one who is at the level of the firmament. He reveals bestowal that flows through him.

Question: Is the Creator a property of bestowal?

Answer: Yes. That’s why it is called “Bo-Re” (Come and See). As soon as you reveal the property of bestowal, it means that you reveal the Creator.

Question: Does it mean that the Creator is a force that the righteous reveals by reaching the property of the firmament”?

Answer: Yes, it is true. The Creator can be revealed only when He dresses in a human being. A man who attains equivalence of properties with the Creator is called righteous.

The Creator is a property of bestowal that fills someone to the degree of the correction of one’s vessels, desires, Kelim. A screen and the reflected light are called a vessel, i.e., a measure of one’s aspiration towards reaching unity with one’s neighbor through which one can become similar to the Creator, to the Light, thus revealing the Light of bestowal in one. A place where one reveals the Light of bestowal is called a vessel.

When one wants to convey the property of bestowal to another, it means that the Light runs through me so it will act on them.

Question: Do we perceive all this inside ourselves? Are all the people, that is, all the vessels, desires, that look external to us in fact our internal desires?

Answer: Everything is inside a person. There is nothing external. At the same time, we observe the picture of this world and have to relate to it correctly: as to something that is going on outside us and at the same time is internal to us. We have to attain a state at which both realities exist simultaneously without erasing one another. If we think that everything we see is true, it means that we live only in this world. If we consider everything to be parts of our soul, if we think that everything is inside us and that all there is around us is our own parts, we as if cross out this world. We have to be present in both worlds at the same time.

Until one reaches the final correction (Gmar Tikkun), the structure of this world won’t disappear and it is prohibited to forcefully reject it.

Question: Is the final correction (Gmar Tikkun) a state that happens at the end of each step when a righteous achieves the level of the Creator?

Answer: You can ask your question in a different way: When does one sense something that looks like the final correction to him? It happens when one completes a current step. However, it is not the real final correction but some sensation of completion of one more level. In other words, it happens when one reaches complete correction within the vessels that one was working with. However, you should keep in mind that the final correction is always partial since one never involves all vessels in the process, and we never know which particular part is excluded. After all, some of the vessels belong to Malchut of the world of Infinity. From the whole Malchut of the world of Infinity, we have a tiny Kli, ten Sefirot that are open to us, and from them we cut off certain portions from them to the extent of our ability to work with them.

It turns out that there are three parts: a Kli in which we work; a Kli in which we cannot work (you can say that it is GE and AHP or Ramach and Shasa, i.e., imperative and prohibitive commandments. They all total to ten Sefirot; besides, the Kelim that represent the entire reality, the rest of Malchut of the world of Infinity is something that we are still unable to correct.

Question: If I correct ten Sefirot, does it mean that I connect them and make them as one?

Answer: No, that’s wrong. The spiritual system is analog in which each part is connected with others by myriad connections. You cannot say: “Now I am here in my ten Sefirot and later I will grow up to ten even bigger Sefirot, and so on and so forth…” No, it’s not true. It’s as if you are “spread” throughout the entire system.

Even though you are very tiny, you are still connected to everyone and “spread” over all. When you advance, you grow all of your properties little by little. You are not the one who defines which properties to expand, but rather it’s a system, the root of your soul that is responsible for this choice. That’s how we progress.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah lesson 11/20/13, The Zohar

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The Torah, “Exodus” (VaYakhel), 35:22: Men and women, all whose hearts moved them, all who would make an elevation offering of gold to the Lord, came bringing brooches, earrings, rings, and pendants—gold objects of all kinds.

A donation refers to tearing what is dear to our ego from ourselves. These are the “jewels” that we have to sacrifice in order to make from them the common part of the soul that the Light can enter.

The word sacrifice stems from the root “close” in Hebrew, getting closer. This means that on the one hand, we tear it from our ego and on the other hand, we get closer to the Creator.

Our mission is to prepare the condition for the Light to be revealed between us in the central part where we are all connected. By rejecting the ego we come closer only by our altruistic parts, by our willing heart, which means only by the part that can come in contact with others.

Since the central part is above the ego, it turns out that we have separate egoistic parts and a common altruistic part where we merge. On the seventh day of the correction it becomes one general whole and thus the correction is completed.

Question: What do you mean when you say: “Think about the center of the group, connect in the center of the group?”

Answer: It means that you should give what is most precious to you and pass it to the center of the group. A person doesn’t feel sorry about spending anything, but when he has to give a donation to the collective pot so that it will become everyone’s property he feels that he loses something; he cannot bear it! He can, for example, easily spend a lot of money in a restaurant, but when he has to give a small part of that money for a joint business his hand shakes.

Different forces operate here. It isn’t about a person being stingy but that he simply cannot do it since giving to others is against his basic nature! It’s only under the influence of the Light that he gradually changes, but on the whole it’s very difficult! I see my pupils go through this and I also felt it myself.

The higher you ascend, the more and more difficult it is to give the maaser as your part so that it would melt in others. On the one hand, you seem to understand more, you are more aware and you already have some nourishment, some confidence, but on the other hand, it becomes more and more difficult. It’s because the ego doesn’t disappear. You constantly work on it and it keeps on growing more and more.

Thus we gradually reach the attribute of a priest, when we are left with nothing. This means that we have the whole world and we have to give all of it! These are very high levels.

Question: What is the meaning of the seventh millennium with regard to the connection in the center of the group?

Answer: The seventh millennium is the general connection, when everyone merges together as the gold jewels that are melted in the vessel. They bubble and sparkle and become one whole. Then above it we begin to attain the Creator, the eighth, ninth, and tenth millennia.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/10/13

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Question: Why is the Torah written in a way that doesn’t pull us to connect? Instead, it talks about numerous crimes and punishments that are totally opposite to the law of not thinking about ourselves.

Answer: Does it mean that the language of the Torah distances you from the right actions? The Torah talks about everything in a way that makes it difficult to focus on correction. First of all, there is no mention of the group, connection, or love. Yes, it is written: “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” and yet even though it is the major law of the Torah, this phrase is stated only in one of the books, not in all of them.

It is not written before each commandment that first we have to love our neighbors as ourselves and from this to loving the Creator, and then observing the laws of Kashrut or replenishing damages. This major rule is mentioned only once; children are taught this law in the very beginning of their school years, but there is no reference to this notion anywhere else in the entire book.

The fact is that studying the Torah has been in the period of exile; it talks about traditions and material commandments that we have to observe in this world. It doesn’t teach intentions; people should just follow the instructions of the Creator naively. It was forbidden to teach intention during the period of exile so it was taught simply in an external form.

We need to understand that throughout the history of humanity, there have been wise Kabbalists at high levels of spiritual attainment. They were the leaders of the people, but they were forbidden to approach people and teach them the ways to exit from the exile before it was entirely completed.

The Egyptian exile was to last 400 years. However, since the people of Israel exited it ahead of time (after 210 years), the remaining 190 years were split among the subsequent exiles.

The same problem occurs with Jacob who wanted to disclose the secret of the final correction to his sons, but he was not allowed to do so. It is prohibited to disclose it. People are allowed to see only what they really need to be exposed to. “Do not place obstacles before a blind man.”

So people were allowed to observe traditions at home and continue praying. It is what the Torah of exile permits. Rabbi Chaim Vital speaks very harshly about mechanical studies of the Talmud in his preface to the book The Gates of Holiness. This does not in any way imply disregard for the book itself, which was written by the great Kabbalists, from their spiritual attainment and yet it should be understood and treated differently, not as it is done today. The period of exile is over now and we must study the Torah of the period of deliverance, that is the wisdom of Kabbalah.

We know how hard it is. We spend years exerting in various actions until we gradually reach the correct attitude, before we begin understanding that except for the connection in the group and revelation of the correct form of unity called the Creator there is nothing else at all. Everything else is just idolatry.

Even essential actions that are done without the right intention to unite are idolatry. This is how we must relate to life. This is the approach we have to exercise during the period of deliverance that happens right before the disclosure of the letter “Aleph” (the Creator) inside the word “exile” (gula) transforming the word “exile” into “deliverance” (geula).

We are the first generation of the era of deliverance, and it is difficult for us to reveal this knowledge to others.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/13/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Baal HaSulam, Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot, Section 8: Indeed, that Godly man, our Rav Isaac Luria, troubled and provided us the fullest measure. He did wondrously more than his predecessors, and if I had a tongue that praises, I would praise that day when his wisdom appeared almost as the day when the Torah was given to Israel….There are not enough words to measure his holy work in our favor. The doors of attainment were locked and bolted, and he came and opened them for us….You find a thirtyeight-year-old who surpassed with his wisdom all his predecessors through the genius and through all times. All the elders of the land, the gallant shepherds, friends and disciples of the Godly sage, the Ramak, stood before him as disciples before the Rav….All the sages of the generations following them to this day, none missing, have abandoned all the books and compositions that precede him, the Kabbalah of the Ramak, the Kabbalah of The First and the Kabbalah of The Genius, blessed be the memory of them all. They have attached their spiritual life entirely and solely to the Holy Wisdom.

Baal HaSulam knew how it is necessary to bless and to honor the Ari who revealed the wisdom of Kabbalah to us. Thanks to him, we have the possibility of rising from the beastly level to reach the level of the Adam (man), the one similar to the Creator. If not for the Ari, we really would have lacked the means. It was he who saved us from a mere beastly existence of only life and death.

There is no Kabbalist closer to us who has helped us so much, of all who were before and after him. All the books that were written before him were only a preparation for its disclosure. Everything that was done after him is derived from his revelation. Therefore the Ari truly symbolizes the beginning of the era of salvation.

The Ari made the greatest revelation that was possible to make. He rose from within the exile and developed a new way for correction of the world, meaning he began the process of correction. The exile ended together with the Ari and the period of correction began.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/17/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The Torah, “Exodus” (VaYakhel) 35:20-35:21: The entire community departed from before Moses. Every man whose heart uplifted him came, and everyone whose spirit inspired him to generosity brought the offering of the Lord for the work of the Tent of Meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments.

We have nothing but the ego! We need to tear something off it and bring it to what we call “the collective pot.” This is of the common vessel (Kli), which we call the Temple or the Tabernacle. These are not corporeal figures but what we create between us. We create the center of the group where we put all of our yearnings, efforts, and desires that are above the ego. Everything that we collect together is the willingness of our heart, which we should do.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/10/13

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Question: How can we help others with our intention?

Answer: Nothing can help a person other than a prayer for him. It is said, “A prisoner cannot release himself from prison.” One cannot help oneself in spiritual attainment in any way; one can only help oneself in corporeality. And in spirituality, only others can help me.

Everything that I want to attain in spirituality, from zero to infinity, is possible only on condition that others will want to give this to me, will help me to get this, and will fulfill me. How can I make them help me? They will help me if I will make efforts to help them.

So we must think only about being included in the desires of the other and the correction of the other. Only in this way can I obligate the system to take care of me, and this desire will no longer be an egoistic desire.

I must gather and collect the desires from everyone because this work is called Yesod. My vessel is the desires of the other that I intend to fulfill, and I perceive them as closer than my own desires. I work on the desires, but because they initially seemed foreign to me, those of the other, they are called intentions.

What is the difference between intention and desire? The desire belongs to me; within me I feel a desire for me to enjoy myself. I don’t feel the desire of the other and so work on the desire of the other is called intention. It turns out that I am always working on intentions! This means that if I reduce my desire, penetrate the desire of the other, and work with his desire by placing his desire above my desire, it means that I am working with intentions.

In this manner I am building the head (Rosh) of the spiritual Partzuf. Instead of my desire, I take the desire of the other and work with it like my desire. And this is called working with an intention.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/24/14

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Question: How can we hold on to the feeling of the morning lesson all day long? I leave the lesson and shortly afterward I notice that I am a completely different person. Why can’t I keep relating to everything that happens in the morning lesson?

Answer: The first reason is the lack of connection between you. The group lacks the general force that unites everyone and can provide support and the right infrastructure for everyone.

A person who leaves the group and engages in his business has to feel that he is connected to the group by a cord. He has to feel that the friends think about him and that he thinks about them because they have committed to support him and he has committed to support them. This is the beginning of the connection in the group, a union that later turns into mutual guarantee, and we have to make sure that it is so.

Why can’t you feel that you are in the group all day long? It is like wearing certain clothes before going out. You should dress in the group and go out! You have to do it, because without it you have no chance of succeeding. If you don’t dress in the group, the day will go by idly.

Let’s sign an agreement between us, and you will sign it and think about us. Let’s see how it will compel you. If you stop thinking about us, you will be causing great harm to yourself and to us, so you will be afraid, fearful, and worried as to how you can hold on to these thoughts. It is easy to tie one’s hands and feet, but how can you tie your thoughts to the group so that they will stick to the group?

How can I control my thoughts? After all, it is clear that you will forget! How can I make this thought obsessive? How can I keep myself from becoming someone else the moment I leave the group and go into the outside world?

There is no way you can remain connected to the group if the group doesn’t provide you with the power to do so. So you must come to the group and say: “Friends, I am ready to do anything that you ask, I am ready to pay you, to serve you, just help me not forget about you please!” Start asking for this!I promise you that the day you begin to worry about the friends, you will feel that you enter the group.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/24/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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