Question: The U.S. media recently exposes Israel as an enemy of America or as its partner, even as the organizer of the September 11 attack; Obama clearly favors the Arab lobby, including its representatives in various organizations. What is your opinion on this matter? By the way, I am not a Jew, but your old student.

Answer: Many years ago, I wrote an appeal “The Threat of Destruction” in Israel, where I pointed out that the salvation of Israel is in fulfilling its purpose: to show the world the vision of prophets in building a new society, based on “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”

There is no other force to hold the country, and it is not because it is against the wishes of our neighbors or enemies, but because it is against the plan of Nature/the Creator. We must once again become the people of the Bible, as prior to our fall 2,000 years ago from the level of love to the level of hatred. The global crisis awaits this example as its solution.
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Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article 42, “What Is that the Acronym Elul in the Work”: For this reason one is given a form of blackness from Above, and then one sees if one’s work is in purity.

In other words, if one can be in gladness in a state of blackness, too, it is a sign that one’s work is in purity, because one must be glad and believe that from Above he was given a chance to be able to work in order to bestow.

If a person feels glad, above all his moods, it is a sign that he is already detached from his desire to receive and that he can advance.

This is always the test: Are we immersed in our desire to receive or can we rise above it to some extent? A person doesn’t ask to be in a good mood in order to continue his work. On the contrary, he is happy about the darkness, about the bad mood and the confusion. Above all this, he is ready to make a slight effort.

It doesn’t matter what mood we are in, we don’t see it as important, but rise above it. If things look bad in the vessel of receiving, I can work above it in bestowal, in unity and in love of friends. It is a sure sign that I am on the right track. All our work is in feeling the darkness in the vessel of receiving and making even the slightest effort above it, yearning for a connection, for bestowal.

This is why we have to perform the right exercises, to play games by which we learn. Of course, it isn’t easy for a new student during the first few years, but then he begins to feel the gap between his feeling and his intention, which means between two different systems.

He may feel good and then he may feel bad, and he understands that it doesn’t matter, that he should work only above these feelings and that time after time they will provide him with different details of the perception of reality that are necessary on the way to learning about the different forms of the Creator’s Providence. A person accepts all the feelings—the good and the bad ones—as a benefit, in order to rise above them and constantly keep the right direction towards the goal.

We have to constantly make these efforts as we try to preserve the energy of the ascent that enables us to use the time and the means we have rationally, so that we can also use it during a descent. True, it is very hard, but at least we have to try. Thus we gradually detach ourselves from the vessel of receiving and move on to another kind of work, already living in the intention and not in the feeling.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/11/12

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A person comes to the wisdom of Kabbalah with a very personal question about the meaning of his life. He wants to know about himself and what he lives for, what is going on in the world around him, and what he has to do in order to understand what is going on and to manage his fate by himself. It is very hard for a person to connect the answers to these questions, which are so personal and intimate and which come from his most internal point, with others.

It seems that one thing contradicts the other: On the one hand, there is my internal point in which I want to discover the secret of my life, and on the other hand, there is society and all of humanity.

I could accept the idea that I need to connect with nature, but it is hard to accept the fact that in order to do that I have to connect with some group of people and to be so strongly connected to them, a connection that I cannot bear, to feel that they are the dearest, closest, most beloved people to me.

I have to work on this above my feelings and my mind, above all my previous patterns. Of course, it seems very distant and unclear, but we must understand that it is thanks to this that the entrance to the spiritual world is revealed to me—it is through the love of others that is so distant, hateful, and opposite to everything that I want.

For me there is nothing more unpleasant and repulsive than the need to connect with others above my desire, to serve them, and at the same time, to know that all the reward will go to them and not to me, that they will have everything. I and my heart will also be with them! Here, where I am, there will only be my empty ego.

It is very hard to understand this, but by studying and working on ourselves we gradually begin to perceive this principle. There is an inner logic that is concealed in the one thing that is most hateful, distant, and senseless in our world, and this is what represents the spiritual world for us. Through it, through the opening that suddenly appears in the wall, we can go through the Machsom (barrier) that separates the spiritual world from this world.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/11/12, Writings of Rabash

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It takes a very long time until, against all the desires and the rejections, a person can convince himself that it is essential to establish a relationship with the friends. It takes a very long time until he clarifies all this and convinces himself, after many ascents and descents.

Gradually by learning from all the states and actions he has been through, by checking himself, he begins to understand what is good and what is bad for him. First he thought that it was good when he had new feelings, understood and felt more, and thought he was respected and powerful. Now he gradually begins to understand that all these pleasant feelings do not indicate his spiritual advancement at all. On the contrary, they indicate that a person is drowning more and more deeply into his ego, into the desire to receive, the matter of creation.

First a person thinks that advancement depends on studying the theory, on knowing the material. He goes through the books wanting to understand them, believing that by that he will be able to approach the goal. Then he rushes to disseminate this knowledge, thus hoping to get a reward for his efforts. He tries to break through in different directions by revolving around one central point: love for the other.

He reaches it only when he has no other choice, and is in total despair of attaining anything by himself. As a result of all these actions the Light illuminates him, and he begins to understand and to feel that the entrance to the spiritual world opens only where his heart connects with the heart of the friend.

Through this point of connection, where the hearts come in contact, I exit my heart and penetrate the heart of the friend, so that in the heart of the friend I will discover my spiritual world. This is what each of us does with relation to the friends.

It takes a long time to do this, since it has to be in the heart and not in the mind. The mind becomes only an external tool. Thus a person advances in the right direction and discovers the most distant and hateful state of all the states in this world.

Previously he couldn’t even imagine that this is the goal of life. But this is what he has to reach, so that the goal of his life will be the connection of the hearts of all the people in this world into one heart.

We have to be patient with ourselves and with the friends that go through different external states. Everyone needs his own time and form of development until he finally discovers that there is no other work but the love of friends.

The more you take your time in this process, the more you succeed. People who think that they can start this work immediately usually burn out quickly. This recognition requires an adaptation period, a time for all the other types of work to “dry up” so that from all his experience and his efforts a person will feel despair. Then, with the help of the Light that Reforms he will understand and feel that nothing will help him except connection. This is when his work begins in the right place.

Since we are connected in one general network with all the people in the world, we pass on this feeling and this understanding to everyone. Thus the world begins to talk about the need for stronger connections among people, which can save humanity. The more we work on ourselves and the greater efforts we make, the more Light we will draw upon ourselves according to the law of equivalence of form that also pours into the external vessels, to all of humanity and so this idea reaches everyone.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/11/12, Writings of Rabash

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In the News (from Medical News Today): “A new study suggests that holding a smile on one’s face during periods of stress may help the heart. The study, due to be published in a forthcoming issue of Psychological Science, lends support to the old adage ‘grin and bear it,’ suggesting it may also make us feel better.

“The study is the work of psychological scientists Tara Kraft and Sarah Pressman of the University of Kansas. They looked at how different types of smiling, and people being aware of smiling, affected their ability to recover from stressful episodes. …

“The age-old saying suggests smiling not only signals happiness to others, but could also be a way to help cope with life stresses. …

“They found the participants who were instructed to smile, and in particular those whose faces expressed genuine or Duchenne smiles, had lower heart rates after recovery from the stress activities than the ones who held their faces in neutral expressions.”

My Comment: These actions also cause the upper correcting force OM (Ohr Makif) even as we want to get closer to spiritual states in which we are not present at all, by our mechanical efforts to become similar to them, we attract these desired states to ourselves. It is the same principle, and that is why it works. We are in the same system of forces of the world of infinity and if we use the likeness to the higher degree, to that extent we receive something from it.
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Today we want to create even a greater unity among us. The preparation period, that lasted quite a few years, has ended. In the past we would not take this challenge seriously. Today the outside conditions in the world, the internal conditions in Israel, the inner conditions within the group, and the inner conditions in everyone more or less are suitable in order to “switch to the higher speed.” The time has come.

Question: Have we already started this acceleration?

Answer: Some people are still in “neutral,” while others are advancing together with us. Everyone determines with what speed he is moving forward by himself.

Question: Can a person measure it?

Answer: He cannot measure it; however, everything is in his hands. How much is he united with the group, with the teacher, with our common actions? Some people are still sleeping, while others put forth all their efforts to get in the process, and from day to day they sense the “extras.” Everything depends on the degree of agreement with this process against one’s desire. Thus, don’t look for loopholes within yourself, but rather you should act.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10.10.12, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Not everyone can go through the first stages of preparation for the spiritual path and hold on to it. Many leave the group, the spiritual path, and the process of changing oneself. They go back to the external world and return to the life of the landlords by stopping the development of the point in the heart, which makes them the guests of the Creator—the Host of the Universe.

As we know “the opinion of the Torah is opposite from the opinion of the landlords.” If a person holds the opinion of the Torah, he feels that he is a guest and the Creator is the host. Therefore he wants to change himself in order to resemble the host.

This is called having the opinion of the Torah, placing the goal before him in order to be in bestowal and accordingly determine his states.

The first states, the ascents and descents we go through, are disconnected from our ordinary mind and feelings. A person sees that he changes completely. For the first time he begins to feel that some foreign dominion manages him. This uniqueness is typical of the changes that we feel in the process of our inner spiritual development.

Suddenly a person feels that he is under the control of some strange force. Before, he never had this feeling in his ordinary life. He always saw clearly whoever wanted to dominate him, which means that they were external forces. Here, however, for the first time he feels that some force descends and takes him over, ties him from the inside and controls him.

It is a very special feeling. I remember the wonder I felt when I first felt this. It is a very unpleasant and incomprehensible feeling until a person begins to get used to it and to acknowledge this action as the Creator’s work on him. Then he is already prepared to determine that this is so and to agree to it. Then he begins to evoke this feeling by himself and to expect it as you expect a meeting and a connection with someone you love.

He begins to value the Creator’s work on him and to expect that it should happen any minute. He appreciates the actual actions of the Creator and not their quality and how they are felt in his egoistic desire, which is not corrected yet. This means that he doesn’t care which states he goes through; what’s important is that the Creator should operate on him as much as possible.

This is what he prays for. He asks to go through as many changes as possible according to the Creator’s desire, since everything that the Creator does is for the good. Thus, his self-sacrifice is measured to the extent that he identifies with the Creator’s actions and expects them, of his voluntary slavery to the Creator, and the power of his prayer.

For the time being these are only the first stages of the spiritual work. Then the more controlled mutual work with the Creator begins, in mutual bestowal. A person already knows how to receive the powers for that and how to later work with them, how to start a dialogue with the Creator. Then he begins to work even with his desire to receive, by feeling the same tastes as the host and by feeling how the Creator tastes the refreshments and how he tastes it himself.

This whole path begins from the initial ascents and descents in which a person gets used to the domination of a foreign force over him.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/4/12, Shamati #21 

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Each congress is a certain milestone, a certain level in our ascending to spirituality; we gradually begin to feel what is meant by unity, adhesion, and connection and what our development requires of us.

During workshops, lessons, and especially during congresses, each time, we push forward and break through to another level that advances us towards the great force, the altruistic force of nature.

From within it, in turn, we begin to perceive our ego. We begin to understand the meaning of our nature by our control of the new force of altruism and by beginning to attain it and reveal its contradictory meaning, the inner depth of the altruistic force. We see how great and wonderful these two forces are, if used correctly. Through studying both of these forces at the same time, with their help, we begin to see the depth of nature: its inanimate, vegetative, and animate components, and also the next levels of nature.

How can we grow further by continuing to develop both these forces in balance? The forces of egoism and altruism will continue to grow in us. But what is there beyond the horizon, that is, beyond the level of “Adam (man/human)”?

Let’s suppose, that we balanced all of this within us and on our animate level we arrived at a state where we completely control ourselves, that all of our actions are completely balanced, rational, and are found in the so-called middle line. Is there a continuation of the growth?

And here we really reveal the wonderful attribute of balance of these two lines. If you have attained balance, then both lines begin to lead you, like legs, alternately, this time the force of minus (egoism) grows, and next time the positive force (altruism) grows, and thus alternately, like two legs, you advance one step after the other forward. Together with this, your growth is not limited. Everything depends only on you.
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From “A Virtual Lesson on Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 9/23/12

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Question: What does it mean “to develop the state of unity that we have passed?”

Answer: To develop a state means not to be afraid that it will disappear and at the same time to be afraid it will, to try to pull it and to try to push it away, to flirt with it, to study it. Similarly, when tasting something new, you do not swallow this piece, but want to know what it is: how much salt, pepper, and sugar it contains, what the sweetness, moisture, texture of this product is.

You want to feel who it reminds you of: your mother, your grandmother who prepared these dishes or something else for you. That is, you have to play with it, you have to produce various information records in yourself: what it looks like, what it can be compared to, how I can hold it, let it go, and return again. These states allow a person to expand his soul.

The soul is the element that contains two opposite forces: egoism and altruism. When a person has only one ego, he has no soul. One force can exist only as a point. When he starts to develop the second force and contrast it with the first one, then these two opposing forces form some volume between them.
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From a Virtual Lesson 9/23/12

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How do we reach the next degree on the path to the revelation of the upper world? How do we enter the next, more corrected state? It is clear that every next state is us, but only more corrected, and thus, it is until we return to Infinity.

Rabash writes about this in the article, “The inclusion of the quality of mercy into judgment”: It is known that the most important thing in work is choice, as it is said, “Choose life.” “Life” is the union that we strive to achieve, in other words, a return to Infinity.

By adhering in the intention Lishma, a person is honored to adhere with the Source of life. And there is no choice in this obvious management. And that is why the upper raised Malchut, that is, the property of judgment to the “eyes.” Thus, concealment emerged, and the lower one noted a lack in the upper.

The upper is the next degree. So, why is there concealment? What would have happened if it were revealed?

Let’s suppose that I now reveal something great, powerful, and beautiful. It captures me completely, and like a baby, I cling to it, unable to let it go. However, by this, I reach nothing.

The great one conquered, captivated me, and I become full with the pleasure of belonging, but nothing more. After all, I cancel the gap between me and it, the gap that would have allowed me to understand what is happening, feeling and attaining it independently and not “being bought” by bliss.

How can I ascend to the next degree? How can I grow to its height, rather than cling to this mass like a grain of sand?

That is why the upper does not show itself to the lower. In other words, our next degree is not revealed to us, but emerges in concealment.

On the one hand, it exists, and we relate to it, and, on the other hand, it is not revealed. Instead of this, it brings us all sorts of negative phenomena. As a result, I supposedly want it, and at the same time, not so much.

For example, I go to a dealer to buy a car. I look at new models. I want them and don’t want them because the price is high. Then, I begin thinking, “Is it worth it or not? What do I gain if I buy or not buy? What is preferable?”

Through this, I learn something new. I grow and now understand, feel something, not just giving money if I have it.

It is the same thing with the next degree. I want to attain it, and, at the same time, I am afraid; having problems, I hesitate in this gap between the desire and the inability to achieve spirituality, and it helps me grow.

After all, I go forward myself. I must imagine the next degree without understanding it, but by means of what? Who will help me conceive the right idea? How do I prepare, “format,” myself with the help of this picture in order to enter it? All my hard work consists of imagining the next degree as much as possible and putting myself in the framework that becomes the “support” to rising to it.
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From the Convention of Unity, Day Two 9/21/12, Lesson 2

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