Entries in the 'Spiritual Work' Category

Questions about Spiritual Work—123

281.02Question: We have many aspirations: unity, adhesion with the Creator, bestowal, and love. What should be the unified desire in which we will unite? Why are we missing the same point?

Answer: Everything you listed is one point, the point of our connection with each other and with the Creator.

Question: If a friend temporarily leaves the group due to disagreements so as not to disturb the others, how should we interpret the Creator’s actions in this event?

Answer: There is no such thing as someone leaving the group to avoid disturbing friends. It means that collectively the quality of connection is insufficient between you.

Question: What does it mean to be like the Creator?

Answer: To be like Him means to be connected with each other and the Creator in one knot.

Question: Can we say that markers of revealing the private governance are my strong feelings in the past, for example, envy that I experienced? Can we use the deficiency from the past, or only to the extent of revealing it in the present?

Answer: Only in the present.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/6/24, Writings of Rabash “The Lord Has Chosen Jacob for Himself”

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Questions about Spiritual Work—122
Questions about Spiritual Work—121
Questions about Spiritual Work—120

When Will the Prophecies of The Sages Come True?

417Question: There is a well-known story of Rabbi Akiva, the great teacher of generations, when he and three sages stood amidst the ruins of the Second Temple, and suddenly a fox ran through the place where the Holy of Holies stood. All the sages wept, but Rabbi Akiva suddenly laughed. They asked him, “Why are you laughing?! Wild animals are already running where the Holy of Holies stood!”

He said, “One prophecy has been fulfilled, the prophecy of the prophet Uriah, that the Temple would be destroyed, and this means that another prophecy will also be fulfilled, the prophecy of Zechariah, which says that Jerusalem will be rebuilt.” And so on. In response, the sages said, “Akiva, you have comforted us!”

Rabbi Akiva understood that the prophecy of the future Jerusalem and the Land of Israel would be fulfilled.

How would you comment on the words of Zechariah in his prophecy?

His prophecy relates to the period of the final redemption, which is called “the end of times.” He lived 350 years before our era.

Zechariah predicted, “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of staggering unto all the peoples round about. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a stone of burden for all the peoples; all that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded; and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it“ (Zechariah 12: 2-3).

What is the “end of times”?

Answer: The end of times is when the time has come to hold righteous judgment over all people.

Question: How can we Jews become a “cup of staggering” for all nations?

Answer: Because the nations will see that in our hands lies the ability to correct ourselves and thus correct the world, yet we fail to do so.

Question: Is this what it means to become a “cup of staggering”? It feels like this time is approaching. I see how people are beginning to treat us.

Answer: Yes, it will come in waves, sometimes rising, sometimes falling, and it will reach a point where the entire world will want to destroy us.

Question: So will it truly become a cup of staggering?

Answer: Yes, but our actions must be the opposite. We must show the world that only by uniting among us can we save the world and then a force called “Messiah” will emerge within us.

It will pull all of humanity out of egoism and elevate them to a spiritual level. “Messiah” comes from the word “to pull out.”

Question: Further, Zechariah writes: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem“ (Zechariah 12:9).

So far, today armies and diplomacies are fighting. In what case does the Creator engage in battle? It is written here that He, the Creator, fights for Israel.

Answer: He does not fight for Israel as it exists today. He fights for the manifestation of faith in the Creator in the world and the need for Him to teach all humanity how we truly should live.

Question: Here it says, “I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.” What does it mean?

Answer: Jerusalem represents the fear of God. It is Ira Shlema, complete fear, before the Creator.

Question: Then it continues: “And there shall be no more extermination; but Jerusalem shall dwell safely” (Zechariah 14:11). How do you understand this?

Answer: I understand that from then on, people will no longer attack each other. They will try to live in peace and fully follow, as much as they can each time, the laws of the Creator.

Question: Are you referring to all people in the world in this case?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: Although it is said that “Jerusalem shall dwell safely.”

My Response: Jerusalem represents the whole world.

Question: Moving on. Zechariah predicts: “Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls” (Zechariah 2:8). When there is no need to build walls anymore, what kind of state is this?

Answer: This is already the common redemption of people from their egoism, from all prejudices, beliefs, and so on, and the revelation of the Creator to all nations.

Question: Are you again talking about the world?

Answer: Yes.

Question: “Yea many peoples and mighty nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favour of the LORD (Zechariah 8:22). …in that day shall the LORD be One, and His name one “(Zechariah 14:9).

What does it mean “mighty nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem”?

Answer: Because He must be revealed in this city, in this place. But Jerusalem is in the heart of each person, the most central, secret place. They will strive to feel Him there: “Is there a Creator in me, at the center, in the depths of my heart?” And everyone will seek like this.

Question: Do I have this point of fear before the Creator?

Answer: You do. Every person does.

Question: Will they find precisely this point? Then what does “shall the LORD be One, and His name” one mean?

Answer: Then they will connect all these points in the heart, and God will be one and His name will be one.

Comment: This is very beautiful! If we say, “the LORD is one,” then all religions, all beliefs…

My Response: All of that will be abolished. There will be one aspiration.

Question: When we say “The LORD is one,” are we talking about the quality of the Lord? Love, bestowal,  is that what we mean?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Moving on: “Thus saith the LORD: I return unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth” (Zechariah 8:3).

This phrase I return unto Zion always goes after the Jews, after the people. Poets and Psalms talk about this. What does the return to Zion mean for the world, if we are already talking about the world?

Answer: Zion, or rather, Tzion, comes from the word “Etzia,” exit and distancing. That is, through distancing from Jerusalem and coming as if to Jerusalem, through these small steps, the Creator creates a real desire in us to reveal Him.

Question: If you said that this is the point of fear before the Creator within us, then we lose it, find it, lose it, and find it again. Does it become stronger as a result?

Answer: Yes.

Question: So, by doing so, do we come closer and closer to it?

Answer: Yes, in this way it is revealed more and more in us each time.

Question: Should there always be these entrances and exits in us?

Answer: Yes.

Question: They do exist. You lose, then you find… All the time either in disbelief or in faith, that’s how you are.

My question is: Jerusalem as the “city of truth.” “Truth” what does it mean here?

Answer: Truth is when it will be revealed that there is truth in the world.

Question: Does this relate to the fear before the Creator?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Is this what truth is?

Answer: Truth is to know the Creator.

Question: We constantly say, “We seek the truth. We seek the truth.” Is this what we are seeking? Are we constantly seeking the Creator?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: But He hides behind all the clothing, and so on.

Further, there is a very beautiful phrase, just the song of songs!

It says: “Thus saith the LORD of hosts: There shall yet old men and old women sit in the broad places of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand for every age. And the broad places of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the broad places thereof” (Zechariah 8:4-5).

My Response: Beautiful!

Comment: Very beautiful!

My Response: This is tranquility, this is wisdom that descends upon the city, which represents all the aspirations of humanity, and which will receive all this wisdom and distribute it to all the nations.

Question: It is very interesting here. Why does it speak specifically about the elderly who will sit in peace “with his staff in his hand for every age” and then it immediately talks about boys and girls playing?

There is not some kind of middle, just old age and youth.

Answer: This is because the more a person strives for wisdom, the younger he becomes. The wisest and the youngest in each person will find each other, understand each other, and coexist in joy.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 3/18/24

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Three Discernments of Bestowal

567.04We should know what vessels of bestowal mean.

There are three discernments that we find in an act of bestowal:

1) He engages in bestowal upon others…in order to be rewarded for it. But if he weren’t confident that he would receive honor in return for it, he wouldn’t do what he does for others.

2) He engages in bestowal upon others and does not wish to be given any reward for his work, meaning another thing, something else. Rather, he settles for performing acts of bestowal. It is in his nature to enjoy doing good to others and this is his whole pleasure.

3) He is working in order to not receive any reward (Rabash, “Concerning Bestowal“).

Question: Is a person capable of the third form of bestowal where they do not receive anything at all for it? How is that possible?

Answer: We need to understand that this is indeed a form of receiving pleasure. This is what bestowal is. I respect the person for whom I perform selfless actions so much, I love and value him so much, and he is so great in my eyes that I am ready to do everything for him without any compensation.
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From KabTV’s “Practical Kabbalah” 3/28/24

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Is It Possible to Work Directly with the Creator?

213Question: Is it possible to work directly with the Creator, for His sake, without regard for others?

Answer: No, first, a person must learn to work correctly with the environment, with others, not with just one, but with many, and only then can they achieve similarity to the Creator by receiving or bestowing only for the sake of others.

Question: What does the patent itself consist of? Suppose I wake up in the morning and start figuring out what I need to bestow to others. Do I walk around with these thoughts and just consider what to bestow to them?

Answer: No, you are simply thinking about what actions of yours can bring contentment to the Creator, how you can please Him, and what He would like to feel from you. If these actions are clear to you, then start gradually approaching them.
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From KabTV’s “Practical Kabbalah” 3/28/24

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Preference for Reward

276.02Question: If punishment and reward are concealed from us in the spiritual work, how can we work with them and focus on them?

Answer: You must correctly understand the difference between punishment and reward and constantly determine what the level of reward needed to be in order to move forward.

We cannot precisely measure this level, but we must imagine that it is above everything else. The reward in our work is partial or complete revelation of the Creator.

Question: How does the ten help with this?

Answer: It helps with everything because your friends also want to exist in this state, to feel spirituality, and to provide mutual help. Depending on this, you collectively engage in the work.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/13/24, Writings of Rabash “Knowledge and Faith”

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Exalt the Friends

528.01Judging a friend to the scale of merit means exalting each of them and putting them much higher than yourself. In this way we will be able to lift the whole group literally to the heavens. That is, everyone in the group will be able to be a great mediator between all its members and the Creator.

A person who is in a group of like-minded people should always elevate his friends, even if he sees some flaws in them. He must tell himself that he judges them as uncorrected because he himself has such an uncorrected vision. As it is said, everyone judges according to the measure of their depravity.

Question: But the group exists according to some rules. If I and others also see specifically that a person violates the rules of the spiritual work, should I still weigh him on the scale of merit?

Answer: It is necessary to understand this, but in general, yes. It depends on who we are talking about. If this is just an ordinary friend or someone who has recently started studying, then what can be done?

Maybe he does not understand it yet or is in the process of working on himself internally, but we do not see it.

In general, we must move forward. Over time, all members of the group will begin to understand how they should be interconnected and mutually oblige each other, and this will move them forward.
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From KabTV’s “Practical Kabbalah” 4/11/24

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Three Conditions for Acquiring the Quality of Bestowal

528.02In order to acquire the quality of bestowal of the Creator, which in principle is hidden from us, there is a laboratory in our world consisting of like-minded people. A person must perform three actions in it.

First he needs to initially accept his friends as the greatest. Otherwise, they will not be able to influence him; this is according to the law that spiritual influence can only be obtained from someone who is greater than you.

Second, he must buy them with his attention, with some actions, in order to acquire their spiritual desires and the quality of bestowal of the Creator.

Third, in any case it does not matter what a person sees and how he feels it in his feelings; he must judge his friends to the scale of merit. That is, they are always right.

Performing all three actions will help us to acquire the attribute of the Creator. Therefore, if you have such a group and you are mutually connected with them, then you have already acquired the most important thing.
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From KabTV’s “Practical Kabbalah” 4/11/24

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Raise the Importance of the Friends

938.03Question: In the article “The Agenda of the Assembly,” Rabash writes that when friends gather together, they should talk about each other’s importance.

It seems unnatural to me. I have never heard of people invited to a meeting talking about the importance of each other, the benefits they can gain from the meeting, and how significant those benefits are compared to not attending. Why does Rabash give such unnatural advice?

Answer: In principle, there is nothing unnatural here because we are talking about friends gathering in a group. The purpose of this group is to perform spiritual work that can only be realized together.

Additionally, they understand that their spiritual development depends on how well they connect with each other. Therefore, the article discusses what such a group should be like, how friends should interact with each other, and their attitudes toward one another. All these are very important elements of the spiritual work of each member of the group.

Comment: You agree that when a person goes to a meeting, he does not think, “How great these friends are!” If he is interested in being with them, he goes. If he sees them as ordinary, he simply does not attend the meeting. But here we come and have to artificially elevate the importance of the friends.

My Response: Yes, that is correct. Moreover, this may be, as they say, “out of the blue” when a person has no such thoughts or intentions at all. But he begins to seriously contemplate this and gradually develops a desire for the gathering, for his friends, understands how important they are, and realizes that achieving the highest condition of spiritual ascent from the level of our world to the spiritual world depends solely on how the friends unite and aim upward together.
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From KabTV’s “Practical Kabbalah” 4/4/24

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To Be Like the Creator

283.01Question: What actually brings a person pleasure? Is it the act of bestowal to a great person or to the Creator, which in principle are the same thing, or is it the equivalence of qualities when I feel that I am like Him?

Answer: It is the equivalence of qualities. Being similar to the Creator is a very high level. By achieving this, you completely adhere to Him and become absolutely like Him! Therefore, there is no higher state than a person coming closer to the Creator.

Comment: In all sources it is written that the Creator does not think about Himself. He does not have such thoughts. He is like an energy station that only emanates, gives, creates, and unites all of nature, starting from inanimate substances and ending with humans. So in principle, I want at least to have such inclinations.

My Response: To achieve that, you really need to ask the Creator to give you such a nature. This cannot be manifested in a person in a natural way without asking!

Question: What gives a person the guarantee that they will not remain in their egoistic nature for the rest of their life and will be able to reach equivalence of qualities with the Creator?

Answer: There is no guarantee. We understand that we are governed by the upper force and it is interested in us getting closer to it, uniting with it, and working together with it to correct ourselves and the world.
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From KabTV’s “Practical Kabbalah” 3/28/24

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Where Should We Look for Answers to All Questions?

186Question: When a person receives a question from the ego, it immediately responds with reason. If a person refuses this egoistic response, then he falls into a state of weightlessness, a kind of emptiness. What is the response from faith to this state of emptiness?

Answer: Uncorrected egoism constantly asks a person all sorts of questions so that he, in search of an answer to them, agrees with them.

Therefore, first of all, a person must unearth the answer to the question: what does he really want? And if he realizes that this answer is still selfish, he will know that he is still in selfishness.

Question: If such questions practically do not arise now, is it worth awakening them?

Answer: No, you should not artificially arouse any questions in yourself. You only need to awaken the desire to connect with your friends. And there you will find the answers to all your questions.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/22/24, Writings of Rabash “Two Labors”

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