It is said that Abraham begot Isaac, and Isaac begot Jacob. In our world, a son continues the business of his father and therefore he is considered higher than his father.

In contrast, in the spiritual world, the preceding one is higher. The son is a result of actions of his father, but in a worse state, in a more coarse desire. Thus, Isaac is a lower state than Abraham, and Jacob is lower than Isaac.

On the other hand, the deeper and stronger desire, the more opportunities it has to be corrected in similarity to the Creator. Therefore, from the point of view of the generations’ development, every new generation is worse than the previous one. However, from the standpoint of using the level of desire, every following generation rises higher, i.e., it attains greater Light.

Therefore, something that was impossible to do for Abraham, due to his small depth of desire, is manifested in Isaac, in his left, egoistic line. This work does not belong to Abraham. He only has to “tie,” to limit his awakening egoistic desire. Whereas, Jacob connects with both forces and begins to realize himself. As a result, a soul begins its development and it consists of two properties.
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People who are passionate about spiritual ascent and believe think that we live only for this, come together and assume the obligations of mutual guarantee: supporting one another and are in communication with each other.

They are incorporated in one another, work together, spur one another to appreciate the greatness of the goal, and try to connect in love and bestowal in resembling the Creator.

By working on the greatness of the goal, they feel their lowly nature and, at the same time, this doesn’t detract from it, but rather, they make an effort to annul themselves without suppressing their ego but by restricting their use of it.

Very fine work is required here: not to despise one’s lowly nature, not to kill it, because it is necessary as resistance to the upper nature, since the intensity of the soul is built in the gap, in the tension, in the delta, between them.

The spiritual world isn’t absolute in that respect. It is absolute in another respect: Everything that was created has its own meaning and a right to exist. Even things that seem most harmful to us cannot be destroyed in any way.

A great problem is created as a result: How do you work with that? On the one hand, you are ready to destroy some negative attribute so that it will not be part of this world, and on the other hand, you cannot do that since it has a right to exist.

It says in the Torah: “If someone intends to kill you, you should kill him first,” but this expression doesn’t refer to physical destruction but rather to “killing him inside you,” so that this attribute will not speak in you. It has to exist but in a dead form.

To die in our world means to disappear. But in the spiritual world it doesn’t mean to disappear but to be dead forever. The Torah instructs us that we should only annul the egoistic attributes so that they will be inactive.

This thin line dictates our whole philosophy of life. It is the difference between the wisdom of Kabbalah and all the other wisdoms.

Therefore, in many cases a Kabbalist’s behavior seems strange. I remember how I couldn’t agree with my teacher: “How can it be that I will suppress this attribute now!” And he would answer: “You mustn’t! Leave it until it withers and dies.” But this dead attribute must exist.

Question: What do we mean when we say that we must hate our ego?

Answer: To hate means to stop using the ego completely!

You cannot destroy an egoistic attribute. It appears in you and you have to decide whether you use it or not. If you don’t use it, it means that you kill it. You cannot do anything more than that. Then this attribute can reappear in you at the most unexpected moment.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 2/12/14

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The Book Of Zohar, “Ki Tazria“, Item 91: Leprosy means closing, since it closes the upper lights and does not open. And when it closes and does not open, it is called “a plague.” The patriarchs, HGT, are not nourished, for they do not receive light, and all the more so the sons, NHY. It is written, “When the plague of leprosy is in a man,” meaning actually in Adam, in ZA, who is HaVaYaH with Alephs, which is Adam in Gematria. And from here it descends to the lower Adam, who caused it, and blocks his light, and there is affliction for all by that closing of lights.

Everything depends on how much we can raise our yearnings, our requests, and our correct prayers for correction to Zeir Anpin .

By uniting, we ascend to Malchut from which we can begin to raise our request to Zeir Anpin, to the next level, to the upper Partzuf, to an upper system. By connecting to it, we summon the Light that descends upon us.

But the intensity of its descent depends on how we summon it, since we are below in the worlds of BYA (Beria, Yetzira, Assiya) of impurity. Our egos are constantly active, bubbling, and pulling us in different directions, and so it turns out that we can stop our prayer to advance at any moment and fall.

In that case, there are insecure, unclear contacts between Malchut and Zeir Anpin and we are responsible for that. There is a threat of a miscarriage, the fear that the embryo will not develop.

Question: What is the meaning of the ascent of Malchut and further growth to Zeir Anpin?

Answer: The ascent of Malchut is fulfilled by the connection between the friends. If we connect correctly among us, we create the Malchut from which we raise our general collective desire to Zeir Anpin as one whole.

Zeir Anpin is the Creator and the ascent from Malchut to Zeir Anpin is resembling the Creator and adhering to Him when we become one whole in our unity, advancing towards unity with the Creator.

The Creator’s image is called Adam (human being) with regard to the people who gather and create one whole general soul among them.

Question: In other words, first a world is created from the desires and a human being is born in it?

Answer: No. When our desires become one whole, as we are mutually incorporated into one another so that any differences between us disappear, this general desire ascends higher with our request to resemble the Creator in order to become Adam, human beings.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 2/12/14

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Question: We in Israel want peace so much and it doesn’t come. What is peace in general?  And how do we bring peace to Israel?

Answer: First of all, peace (Shalom – שלום) is wholeness (Shlemut – שלמות). And wholeness for Israel has always been inner completion (Hashlama  – השלמה).

The forefather Abraham took his supporters out of Babylon and called for them to be a “people,” meaning a group of people who live according to the laws of the property of mercy in mutual love and unity. And around 5,000 people followed him, according to Maimonides. A small group of Babylonians were attracted to bestowal around 3,500 years ago.

Abraham taught them how they needed to connect between them. After that, Isaac and Jacob continued on this mission, and ultimately our ancestors truly became a nation. This happened because they truly took upon themselves the requirements: “Don’t do to your friend what is hateful to you,” “You shall love your friend as yourself,” and “All of Israel are guarantors for each other.”

“And you shall love your friend as yourself” is called the “great general rule in the Torah.” This is the basis of the nation, its constitution, and the fundamental law according to which it exists. The group of Abraham separated from the whole world specifically to unite and live according to this general rule.

How many pursued this small number people and why didn’t they try to? The ten tribes disappeared and those who remained were scattered all over the world. They went through countless troubles and were persecuted again and again, until we returned to the land of Israel.

So what was wrong with this return?

During the period of the exile, the hatred of the nations of the world somehow connected us externally. Because of it, we were connected together, supported each other, and helped one another.

But in the land of Israel, we don’t feel the dominance of the nations of the world upon us, and now it is as if we lack this animosity and our own inner hatred took its place.

In principle, after we are released from the constant pressure, we will need to live here as a true people of Israel in the land of Israel and according to the law of love and oneness. But nothing is happening and nobody is even thinking about this, no sector is calling for this. Once unfounded hatred led to the destruction of the temple and scattered us all over the world,. Now there are the same troubles and the same hatred accompanying us on our return to the land.

Because of the gap in the connection between us, we are not a people. We become a people only if we are united by the power of mutual love. This is the condition, and as long as there is no love between us, the nation of Israel don’t exist.

Other nations arose in different places in the world according to local conditions, on the basis of local tribes, villagers, etc. The creation of every nation is based upon a common history and geography, i.e., earthly foundations.

We were not born this way. We were created on an ideological basis and were separated from the whole world according to an idea that is the opposite to the others, to the whole world. This is the fundamental difference, our original characteristic.

As a result of this, we developed and lived differently. All of our history is different from the usual template. All those around us always related to us as a foreign body, as a strange addition that was “not of this world.” There were even theories that we came from another planet.

How did this happen that today we have “gone crazy” to such an extent that we dream about peace without uniting as the people of Israel on their own soil?

Indeed, separation and division dwell among us, and always in circumstances like these, we are surrounded by “wolves” who want to prey upon the “sheep” that quarrell among themselves. That is how it always has been. So why do we hope? If we look at the present state among the people in the nation of Israel and at what happened two thousand years ago, we see the same picture.

The history is known, the causes are defined, and everything is laid out before us. But we are waiting for something from the Palestinians, maneuvering between political interests of nations near and far, and for what? All of this is most certainly not in our interests.

The moment we unite among us, we will reach wholeness in the relationships between us and will educate the people on the basis of those fundamental principles. As a result of this, we will reach peace.

Indeed, we are a people of the idea, and we must implement it. When we fell from the level of the temple, meaning from love and unity between us, everything was destroyed and we were thrown into exile. This means that only love will make it possible for us to rise again to the level of the temple, the level of peace and well-being.

In fact, these are the foundations of our history that are well known to us. Therefore, calls for peace and attempts to come to terms with the Palestinians are pointless. When we act like this, we are taking the usual approach of the nations of the world, using external means to solve problems of an internal nature. This has never worked and it never will work. After all, the nations of the world are always trying to annihilate us.  

But we can become many times stronger than they are and win over all of our haters only if we unite and are truly united. We must not be like nuts packed in a sack by our neighbors who press upon us from all directions and remind us about unity, even if it is artificial. Otherwise they will simply tear us apart.

So there is nothing more important than educating the people. We must explain to people that their good future depends upon them. The only requirement for peace for the people of Israel is unity within itself.

If we focus upon relationships between us and learn how to cultivate and improve them, everyone around us will relax. The riots will stop because everyone will be waiting for the time when we will finally come to peace among us. Subconsciously, this is what the nations of the world are waiting for.

Moreover, they are waiting for us to show them how to do this and how it is possible to reach wholeness of the self. What they want from us is an example of national unity resulting from mutual love, an example of an economic and national structure based upon this principle. They want us to build the country on the basis of love and bestowal, not based on competition, strife, and hatred.

After we show all of this to the world, we will become a “light to the nations.” Then they will want to receive this and copy this from us.

This is what the world is expecting during the global and integral crisis affecting everyone. There is simply no other choice for the world, as it is hoping for a means and an example that will show what must be done. We specifically can provide the world with this example.

Question: What must the nation of Israel do when the world is constantly chastising it? “Your neighbors also want to live,” they say. “Give them the opportunity to proclaim a state of their own and then sign a peace treaty with them.”

Answer: The subtext is different: “You have ships in the ports. Get on them and float away far from our land. We will bring you to someplace in the middle of the ocean, if you don’t sink on the way, of course. We will let you off on some nice island and you will live there in peace.”

In fact, something similar has already happened. This is specifically what they want and this is what they mean. We will yet see how things progress rapidly in this direction if we don’t begin the process of connection from our side.The people of Israel must initiate the correction of the world and give everyone the example of how the human society of tomorrow must look.

Question: And what if they isolate us in the international arena? In the modern era, a boycott is a serious weapon.

Answer: This will not help them if we act according to a new nature, the quality of bestowal. In this case no egoistic boycott will succeed. It will only make it possible for us to be quietly concerned about essential things and we will not feel a lack of anything.

Don’t be concerned about the economy, especially since up until today nobody knows according to what laws it operates. I am not afraid of anyone. I am only afraid about the people of Israel returning to the land of Israel: When will it finally want to be a nation in the full sense of the word?

Question: So everyone is against us. There is no reason to look at the others; come, let’s take care of our internal problems.

Answer: Of course, this doesn’t mean that we should defiantly run away from everyone, deny what they say and sever all connections. First of all, it is up to us to be concerned about our people. It is necessary to take care of the politics, but above all, 99% of our efforts must be focused upon educating people. Indeed the truth is not power, not money, and not an army that dominates the world.

Question: We always thought that in order to live in peace we had to make peace with our neighbors. And we say that peace begins from us, from what is latent in us.

Answer: This is understood. In fact, we don’t need to search for ways of making peace with our neighbors at all. It is enough for us to make peace among ourselves . All of humanity will look at us with amazement: “Wow! We also want this!” People will suddenly feel a yearning for this.

Indeed, the nations of the world will want to learn from us; but in the meantime, there is nothing to learn. On the contrary, we are trying to take an example from them instead of serving as an example for them. This is the reason that they hate us.

Our mission is to show what the Light is, which is a life of true serenity, mutual bestowal, and love, that is said to be the necessary basis for our existence.

If the world is perfection, then the Light is the power of bestowal and love that brings us this perfection.

Question: How do we nurture love among a people that is divided into thousands of factions?

Answer: Begin to teach them until they understand that separation and fragmentation harms them all along any axis. People will connect among themselves above all the differences. That is how parents love their children. It makes no difference how different they are from each other. All of them are different and all are equal, as one person with one heart.
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From the program “A New Life” 4/10/2014

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Every person on the spiritual path must fulfill a correction regarded as “Brit Mila” (circumcision). It is called “Brit” (union) because it establishes connection between spiritual structures (Partzufim). The upper Partzuf can pass to the lower one only what it has from Sefira Keter down to Sefira Yesod, but not further below.

Below are desires that cannot be corrected. Therefore, they need to be severed (cut off) and the remaining desires used to bestow. Every person must analyze his every action and cut off the “Orla” (foreskin), the desires that are currently not suitable for spiritual advancement.

This correction takes place in Sefira Yesod. But Malchut cannot be used because the Upper Light cannot get through to and correct it.

So I sever Malchut and perform other corrections thanks to which I can be certain that I am using the remaining desires correctly.

Question: If this correction is mandatory for spiritual advancement, does it mean that a woman who is progressing spiritually has to perform Brit Mila on herself?

Answer: Correction is performed specifically by the female attribute in a person, as the Torah states, Abraham was circumcised by his wife Sarah, and Moses by his wife Zipporah.

It comes from the very will to receive: by examining itself, the will to receive turns to the will to bestow, is included in it, and in this way performs circumcision.

In this sense, there is no difference between a woman or a man studying Kabbalah; any desire is subject to circumcision.

Of course, women have the same desires as a man’s, desires that cannot be used; and she must perform the same corrections, in the same manner, in the same order as a man does. Therefore, she also performs the correction of Brit Mila, since her soul consists of the same 10 Sefirot.
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From KabTV’s Parashat 10/15/10

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The Torah, “Leviticus” (Shemini), 11:41-11:42: And any creeping creature that creeps on the ground is an abomination; it shall not be eaten. Any [creature] that goes on its belly, and any [creature] that walks on four [legs] to any [creature] that has many legs, among all creeping creatures that creep on the ground, you shall not eat, for they are an abomination.

Swarming on the ground on your belly is the lowest level of the egoistic desires. It is impossible to raise them to a level that they can be used or eaten as food.

What does food and eating symbolize? It is using a desire from the animate level in order to revive the level of the speaking. However, this type of desires cannot even be detached from the earth (from the ego).

But all these images are allegorical. In fact, we have to look for such desires inside us and sort them out.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 1/22/14

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Question: What is “Judgment and Mercy” in spirituality? What does it have in common with regular morality?

Answer: Baal HaSulam writes that many people think that the Torah speaks about morality, but in fact it is a huge and unfortunate misinterpretation.

Morality is based on life experience. A person accumulates essential knowledge from various life situations. But the science of Kabbalah is not associated with our bodily life experiences. We follow the advice of Kabbalists who pull us “by the ear” into the upper reality, where ear refers to the level of Bina (bestowal). In other words, I don’t learn from my ordinary life; on the contrary, I rise above its experience!

In this world, all I deal with is my egoism. I give advice that is based on my ego and serves to benefit it. We warn a child not to get close to an angry dog or he’ll bite. All I am capable of is differentiating things that are good or bad for me; and that’s all that morality does.

But the wisdom of Kabbalah doesn’t operate out of fright and punishment. It teaches us to change our desires and expose them to the Light.

In other words, it teaches us how to internally correct ourselves, rather than reprimanding or scaring us.It doesn’t threaten us with an “angry dog” or an “abusive” Creator.

Kabbalah doesn’t intimidate us, nor does it guarantee any reward in the future worlds. It doesn’t manipulate our egoism; rather it corrects it with the Light that Reforms.

The combination of judgment and mercy in spirituality is a mix of Bina (bestowal) and Malchut (reception), a degree of inclusion of Bina into Malchut and vice versa, as well as their ability to support each other.

Malchut enters Bina and a drop of judgment penetrates mercy and lessens it. In other words, Malchut’s inability to match Bina triggers a contraction of the latter, but at the same time it discloses Bina to a degree of Malchut’s adequacy to it.

Hence, inclusion of Bina into Malchut occurs and Bina brings a portion of mercy into Malchut. At this point, Malchut enters Bina and contributes a portion of judgment into the latter thus defining how much Bina allows Malchut to bestow and receive and identifies the degree of their connection.

It means that when a measure of mercy connects with a portion of judgment, they start working together from both ends. The upper part contracts and utilizes a portion of judgment, although it would prefer to reveal itself through exposing mercy.

The lower part strives to attain a measure of mercy, which is why it contributes a property of judgment to the upper part and pronounces: “Don’t bestow to me! I will shut you down!”

Or it says: “You can reveal yourself completely! I won’t receive anything from you anyway. I will use my screen and will receive from you only to the extent of my similarity to you!”

This has nothing to do with threats or morality. On the contrary, it is about absolute liberty of exploration and the only freedom of will there is.
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From the lesson on “Beit Shaar a Kavanot” 10/21/10

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The Torah, “Leviticus” (Shemini), 10:16-10:17: And he was angry with Elazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s surviving sons, saying, “Why did you not eat the sin-offering in the holy place? For it is holy of holies, and He has given it to you to gain forgiveness for the sin of the community, to effect their atonement before the Lord!”

Eating meat is a very high level, which isn’t even allowed for all the priests.

We discern five levels in the spiritual Partzuf: the mind, the bones, the tendons, the flesh, and the skin. Attaining a state in which I begin to clarify the fourth level of the egoistic desire on the level of a priest is called eating the meat of the offerings that were burnt in the Tabernacle. It is a correction on a very high level, working with the attributes of in order to receive for the sake of the Creator.

Aaron’s sons Elazar and Ithamar were allowed to do so, meaning to ascend to a higher level thanks to the fall of their brothers Nadav and Avihu, who despite their fall discovered the desires by which such actions can be performed.

It is important to say that the Torah was written so that we can gradually follow it, and here we read about such high levels of the human spirit that we have no idea of because we cannot exit our ego. There the pure attribute of bestowal is in effect.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 1/22/14

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The Torah, “Leviticus” (Shemini), 10:8-10:11: And the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, “Do not drink wine that will lead to intoxication, neither you nor your sons with you, when you go into the Tent of Meeting, so that you shall not die. [This is] an external statute for your generations, to distinguish between holy and profane and between unclean and clean, and to instruct the children of Israel regarding all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them through Moses.”

Wine symbolizes the Light of Hochma.

Everything depends on how we receive and perceive it. If I receive it in a vessel that is ready for bestowal, the Light of Hochma becomes the Light of life for me. But if I receive it in a vessel that isn’t ready, which means for myself, I get drunk and descend to the level of an animal, until the actual burning of the robes of priesthood, until the state of death.

We can understand this principle on the corporeal level when a person who loves to drink loses his human quality and lies about totally drunk.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 1/22/14

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Question: The Creator commanded the sons of Aaron not to mourn their dead brothers, but He commanded the people of Israel to mourn them. What does this difference mean?

Answer: We differentiate between the categories of father, mother, brother, husband, wife, and children in the spiritual work and only then is the general mass of the people.

People are the states of our soul, which concerning all family circumstances are on the level of the still nature and so they lack any understanding of what is happening.

The desires that are on the next levels, however, on the levels of family relatives, people who are close to each other, are already somewhat dependent on one another, so they don’t have to mourn them and do nothing, but quite the contrary.

There are desires that they have to comply with because by that they descend during the seven days of mourning to the depth that is revealed to them, to the egoistic desire called Nadav and Avihu, and by attaining it they begin to correct these attributes.

Question: Does this means that the Israeli nation has to descend to such depths in order to attain it and to ascend again?

Answer: The people are in such a state that they cannot understand anything or do anything. Therefore nothing is understood in our desires that are called “people” who are on such a minor egoistic level. They are corrected automatically until they begin to understand who we are, what we do and why.

It is just like we perform millions of different random and unnecessary actions in different situations in life and thus gradually reach states that are better understood. Thus, we begin to understand how we should advance. This means that we don’t perform random actions without any intention, but our intentions begin to determine our actions.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 1/22/14

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