When the measure of labor is complete, it is the time of prayer, but until then, believe in our sages: “I did not labor and found, do not believe.”

When the measure is full, your prayer will be complete and the Creator will grant generously, as our sages instructed us, “I labored and found, believe,” for one is unfit for a prayer prior to this, and the Creator hears a prayer (Baal HaSulam, Letter 57).

This entire world, all the upper worlds, all their degrees descending from above downward, and all our work in this world are designed to lead us to a request, a cry, a prayer, a plea to the light, to the Creator asking Him to perform our correction. Our task is only to reveal the need for this correction, and in this there will be no concessions.

The need for correction consists of several components. First one must understand precisely what is corrupted and what kind of correction is necessary. Then one must realize that they are incapable of performing this correction on their own and that only the Creator can accomplish it. However, the Creator will act only if one genuinely feels the need for this correction and demands help from Him.

Thus, this cry encompasses many elements. Only through specific work and persistent efforts, carried out according to the advice of the Kabbalists, through long, arduous, and exhausting efforts, do we come to attain this fundamental concept that underpins everything. It is called “prayer,” the first request and initial contact with the Creator.

Everything is arranged in such a way that we have no task other than to prepare ourselves for this prayer. The upper light governs all, while we, as creations, are only capable of revealing within ourselves the need for correction. Therefore, the person, the study, the group, all our actions, and the entire world that seemingly surrounds us, all of these exist to help form the correct request from creation to the Creator, a request to which the light must respond.

It is said that “the cow wants to nurse more than the calf wants to suckle.” Nonetheless, according to the order of the degrees, this desire from above cannot act until there is a preceding desire from below. Therefore it is we who activate the upper light and draw its influence toward us, so we have no room for complaints.

Do not claim that you are already crying out and praying. It is a misunderstanding to think you can pray before the prayer has been born and formed as a result of your efforts. One must internalize many concepts to develop the desire capable of awakening the light.

After all, this is not simply a prayer read from a prayer book that dictates where one should weep and where one should rejoice. We must achieve a prayer that emerges from the depths of the heart. The work within the heart is what is called true prayer.

Thus, nothing will help except to apply efforts in accordance with the advice of our teachers. In this way we will shape the correct need within ourselves through the surrounding light. With every action we awaken small illuminations that gradually construct our desire and bring it to a state where it becomes suitable for correction.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/12/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam, Letter 57

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Question: What does it mean to become a support for the Creator, which leads to adhesion?

Answer: It means that in your state, within your group, you become the point where all questions and all answers, say, on a given topic, converge. In this way, you continue to move forward.

Question: Why can the greatness of the Creator be realized only through the coarse, lowly matter of a person, and from this adhesion can be achieved?

Answer: It is because the Creator resides within a person, and what a person says is of no consequence. The most important thing is the fact that the Creator does through him.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/9/25, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Matan Torah [The Giving of the Torah]”

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It is a law that the creature cannot receive disclosed evil from the Creator, for it is a flaw in the glory of the Creator for the creature to perceive Him as an evildoer, for this is unbecoming of the complete Operator to act with evil (Rashbi, Zohar for All, Vol. 1, Introduction of The Book of Zohar, “Laila de Kalah [The Night of the Bride]”).

Evil arises when the creatures perceive the Creator’s actions as flawed. If creation interprets the Creator’s actions in this way due to its own lack of development, the Creator must conceal Himself to that extent.

Hence, when one feels bad, denial of the Creator’s guidance lies upon him and the superior Operator is concealed from him to that same extent. This is the greatest punishment in the world.

That is, when a person is given the sensation of evil, the revelation of his egoism, to this extent he naturally is unable to rise above it or justify it. Consequently, concealment occurs.

Thus, the sensation of good and evil in relation to His guidance brings with it the sensation of reward and punishment… If a person perceives everything as good, it is a reward. But if evil appears amidst the good, it is a punishment. There is no punishment greater than the disappearance of the Creator from the horizon of one’s perception.

…for one who exerts to not part from faith in the Creator is rewarded even when he tastes a bad taste in Providence. If the Creator distances Himself from me and disappears (sometimes I feel Him and sometimes not), yet I strive to grasp Him and maintain a connection with Him, these efforts are rewarded.

And if he does not exert, he will have a punishment… What is the punishment? The Creator disappears. The disappearance of the Creator is the disappearance of faith itself, for faith is the feeling of the Creator as the source of all that occurs.

To the extent that we exert ourselves in correction, we can hold the Creator within the field of our perception. But if we cannot justify His influence, that is, the world in which we exist, the Creator conceals Himself to that extent.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/4/19, Preparation for convention in Moldova “The Work in Concealment”

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Comment: You clearly describe how the connection is formed between the friends in the group through the Creator.

My Response: Certainly. Then, to the extent of similarity to the Creator, the upper force manifests itself between them. Just like any physical law, as we attune to the same wavelength, we catch it and ether appears between us that binds us together. We catch each other and catch this ether, the Creator, who is between us.

Question: But you said that if a person reaches a state where he feels the Creator, then he perceives everything differently. Then there is no more “between us,” it is already one?

Answer: How can there be no between us? There is always a connection system between us. It is like a receiver in which you catch the Creator, discover the upper force. Without this detector, you will not perceive the Creator.

We are inside this immense force, but we cannot capture it and realize it. How can we use it? Only if we discover it. How can we reveal it between ourselves? Only if we unite.

This is a simple physical law, and there are many such phenomena in the world. When we attune ourselves to certain frequencies and forces, then we discover that they exist. The same applies to the entire universe around us: we tune ourselves to perceive it and then we sense it.

The same is true with the Creator. The Creator is the general force of the entire universe, that is why Einstein sought to discover one universal law.

Comment: But you gave the example of a simple device that can be used to catch a wave. And here is a completely different device that consists of many parts.

My Response: What’s the difference? We connect our relationships with one another and build a common field within which we discover the source of upper radiation called the Creator. We reveal that He created us, sustains us, that He is everything!
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Connection Through the Creator” 4/17/10

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Question: The Creator says: “Leave Me, but remember your Torah.” And you keep saying that we should turn to Him. How can we act in this contradiction?

Answer: This is not a contradiction. “Leave Me and study the Torah” means working on correction. If you turn to the Creator from correction, this is good. But if you start asking for things just to feel better, then you will only feel bad.

The Creator reacts to everything. First of all, this is the field in which we exist. God forbid that we imagine Him as some kind of a creature. This field is a limitless, an infinite volume, that we exist in. It reacts to everything regardless of whether you ask for something or desire something consciously or not.

First of all, everything that you feel is aroused in you by this field, and you yourself are allegedly not there. Our entire life, both corporeal and spiritual, is 99% about reacting to the impact that the Creator causes in us and nothing more.

The only thing left for us is to ask Him to include Himself in this work. That is why it is called the work of the Creator (Avodat HaShem). And then, we join it as much as we can.

All our work consists precisely in a person consciously joining in the work of the Creator. We do everything unconsciously anyway. Nothing is done except by Him. We only want to consciously participate in this.

That is why we are called the workers of the Creator, that is, we want to take part in His actions. And if not, then He will act anyway, and we will move anyway. Therefore, we need to develop such feelings in us that we can feel the actions of the Creator.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/5/19, Preparation for convention in Moldova “Turning to the Creator”

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Comment: I would like to ask a question about intention. In everyday life, I just take medicine, and it helps me.

My Response: No, here much depends on how much you believe in the medicine. There is the placebo effect, which is significant up to a quarter of a medicine’s impact. That is, our impression, confidence, and belief that it will help account for 25% of the success, or conversely, its effectiveness diminishes without it.

Question: In any case, the medicine works somehow. But in Kabbalah, we work with intention. Only with the correct intention can the correct medicine be formed. For example, can The Book of Zohar influence us solely through the right intention?

Answer: Yes, because The Book of Zohar is activated through the intention that we must correct.

Otherwise we cannot accomplish anything unless we transform our egoistic intention into an altruistic one. This is why we expose ourselves to the influence of the light. I want my intention to change in relation to the entire surrounding world.

Instead of using the world for my own benefit and trying to see my personal gain in everything, I begin to realize that such an intention is killing me, it confines me in the narrow prison of this world like a solitary cell. I want to break free!

The only way to escape is to move beyond the intention for myself, because “for myself” means for my body, for this beast. I no longer want to serve it! I want to break free from it, to become a human. A human is something beyond and above this beast.

How can I do this? I am told: “To achieve this, imagine yourself outside your physical body. Try it!” But how? How can I do that? Invite the surrounding upper light to act upon you, to open your pores, your feelings, and pull you outward. Then, to hell with this body! Let it die if it must, it does not matter anymore. You will already exist outside of it.

Question: So Kabbalah is just the intention?

Answer: Yes, exactly. As soon as my intention changes from reception to bestowal, it is in this intention to bestow, to exit myself, to relate to everything as one single whole that I begin to feel the upper world—a completely different reality, entirely different properties and qualities! Everything is different and new!
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From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. The remedy of The Book of Zohar” 3/11/10

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Question: The Creator directly awakens thoughts and desires in me. What do other people have to do with this?

Answer: In order for you to establish a reciprocal connection with the Creator from you to Him, you must also be connected with other people. After all, you cannot address the Creator directly; you need some kind of a transmitter that would connect you to Him.

And how can this happen? You are an egoist. In order to transmit your thoughts to the Creator, to tune yourself to the frequency of bestowal and love instead of craving receiving, contempt, and other natural impulses, you must integrate into the ten and try to reach the Creator through them. This is possible if you are interconnected with the group.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/18/19, “The Personal Management of The Creator”

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Question: What is the most effective method of interaction among students?

Answer: Internal, without any writing or talking, from heart to heart.

Comment: You say you feel this from the heart, but we don’t. It’s really hard for us to understand.

My Response: No, it’s not hard at all. In fact, you simply tune into the waves that exist around us. You need to adjust yourself to them. It’s literally like a radio receiver.

Question: But you cannot lose spiritual attainment if you distance yourself from the group, can you?

Answer: Of course not, because within me, this oscillatory circuit already exists.

Do you know how a simple crystal radio receiver works? I remember how as boys we used to build one without even using a battery. We’d take a long antenna, say, twenty meters, a coil, a diode, and a headphone, and that was it. We’d hang the antenna outside and connect the other end to the ground. It would pick up signals, and you’d hear them.

In this analogy, the coil represents the surrounding environment, which amplifies the signals. You are the detector, which must allow waves to pass only in one direction to resonate with the coil. The headphone is your perception organ, your quality of bestowal: your sense, your ear. Nothing else is needed.

The setup works on the same principle as a crystal radio receiver, the simplest device for catching waves. If we examine other devices, they all operate according to this principle.

You must tune yourself to a single wave, a single direction. Nearby, there must be an environment that amplifies this direction. You enter into resonance and catch the wave through the quality of bestowal.

The large antenna represents the desire to catch the upper force, while grounding is essential to work accurately with your egoism and your desires. The earth symbolizes desire.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. An Example from Physics” 4/17/10

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Question: At what point is a new degree revealed? Is it at the moment of equivalence of form or in the opposite state?

Answer: A new degree is revealed at the descent of the previous degree.

When a person reaches some higher state, the ten Sefirot of this degree are fully realized in him (even if he does not feel them), and the next degree immediately appears.

The next degree, naturally, begins to reveal itself from its opposite side, that is, it is felt as a descent. In fact, this is not a descent, but an ascent to the next degree in its lowest state.

Therefore, what awaits us is just an ascent from degree to degree. And we must (by understand this) welcome the so-called descents as ascents in the left line.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/5/19, Preparation for convention in Moldova “Turning to the Creator”

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Question: How can we increase the speed of unfolding Reshimot?

Answer: The most reliable way is to work in a group. Then you will definitely stimulate the Reshimot of the group toward faster realization. Any effort you make to draw closer to each other, whether successful or unsuccessful, does not matter; the main thing is that your efforts are aimed at transforming the group into one unified whole.

Imagine that you are one unified whole. It doesn’t matter that we are different and that on the level of our world we repel each other. Women, in particular, feel this more acutely than men. However, this does not mean that they are further from spirituality, it is simply their natural disposition.

Everyone who experiences greater rejection from others has greater potential for ascent. So it is said: “Everyone who is greater than his friend, his evil inclination is greater.” People who have a big ego initially feel it as a huge obstacle; this is in the left line. And later, they correct it in the right line.

Each subsequent Reshimo determines the next state of the group because it is not an individual Reshimo of each of us, but of the ten Sefirot, which are becoming more and more similar to the Creator. After all, even the Reshimo that is revealed in me today comes from my state in the group.

You might say, “But I am not in the group yet. Where do I get any new feelings from?” Let’s say you are studying “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah” (Pticha) or Shamati and feel that something is changing in you.

The fact is that spiritually you nevertheless exist in a group; you are already in it anyway, but you have not discovered it yet, it has not yet been revealed to you. Therefore, when some spiritual data changes in you, it actually changes your attitude toward the group you are in, even though you do not know it yet.

Like, for example, an infant who was born, develops, and does not yet know what kind of world he is in, but he exists in it. He is already somehow influencing the world with his cries and needs, and the world is influencing him by preparing special food for him, diapers, and so on. That is, there is interaction, but it is not yet conscious.

In such a way, you still exist in the group, you still haven’t left the system of Adam, even though it has been shattered to pieces.

It shattered the mutual feeling of all its parts. As, for example, the nerve connection between the leg and the head has been severed in the body, and the head does not control the leg, the same thing happens with us.

We are in the same system, only it has received an additional egoistic connection, and instead of thinking about unification, each part thinks about itself.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/5/19, Preparation for convention in Moldova “Turning to the Creator”

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