Rabash, “Dargot HaSulam,” Article 932, “The First Innovation”: All innovations begin only after the person merits leaving acquisition for himself. And before then, he is absolutely immersed in his desire for pleasure, and this desire dominates him. Therefore, no innovation can happen in him, everything comes only from his ego. An innovation can come only through the power of another nature, which a person doesn’t have yet. For this reason, all innovations begin only after the person leaves his ego, the desire to receive for himself, which is to say, he leaves Egypt.

And this is the idea that it is forbidden to teach Torah to idol worshippers.

One who serves other gods is a person who still doesn’t have contact with the Creator, who hasn’t exited Egypt. This is the name of a spiritual level, so, a regular person of this world is not to be called this. Idol worshippers are people like us who are drawn to the Creator, but they still ascribe particular importance to material values, to reception for oneself.

For this reason they are called AKUMA (an acronym for “Servants of stars and constellations,” and also round-about (Akum), “indirect”). You see they are not directed “straight to the Creator” (Yashar-El), like Israel rather they worship stars and fate, which is to say, they are found dominated by various egoistic forces and values.

It is forbidden to teach Torah to idol worshippers. “Forbidden” means impossible. You see the Torah is the Light, the entire upper system, all the spiritual worlds, the relationships between a person and the Creator. It is impossible to teach this to an idol worshipper, who is found in egoistic receptivity and has no connection to the system of bestowal.

And indeed, when the person is in Egypt, which is to say in egoistic receptivity, he cannot be a Yehudi, (from the word “Yichud” – unity, which is to say uniting himself with the entire creation and with the Creator), for he is enslaved to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. The person is enslaved by his ego, the king of the material world.

And when he is a slave to Pharaoh, he cannot be a servant of the Creator. It is either Pharaoh or the Creator, because everything depends on the intention, with what a person identifies himself and what he wants to serve: personal benefit or bestowal.

“And this is the idea, ‘For the children of Israel are mine,’ they are my servants,” the Creator says, “and don’t be a slave to slaves.” You see, Pharaoh is also a servant of the Creator, he is an angel, and he is a system which carries out the thought of creation from compulsion, without any free choice. Pharaoh is an angel; you see it is written: “I created the evil inclination.” The entire creation, the entire ego is found in the hands of the Creator. And if the person serves in the name of Pharaoh, he is called a “slave to slaves,” for he serves the slave and not the Master.

When a person serves himself, he cannot be a servant of the Creator, for it is impossible to serve two kings at the same time. And only after the person leaves Egypt—after he receives enough Light that Reforms, raising him above his desire for pleasure—which is from reception for oneself, then he can be a servant of the Creator. But in order to remain a servant of the Creator, he needs to choose this all the time: in each and every moment, with every desire. And then he is ready to merit to the Torah. What follows from this is that the first innovation is the departure from Egypt.

The Torah begins with the departure from Egypt and onward; therefore, after this the giving of the Torah happens. The Torah includes all the Light of Infinity, all the upper Light, which fills the upper worlds and is designed for the gradual correction of the will to receive of the creature until he reaches equivalence of form with the Creator.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/31/13

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The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion, “HaShavuah” Selected Excerpts

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The Midrash, “The Book of Jethro”: When Jethro approached the camp of the sons of Israel, he wrote a letter to Moses saying: “Your father-in-law Jethro has come. Please come and meet me. If you don’t come out for my sake, please do it for your wife Zipporah; if not for her, do it for her two sons.” Jethro tied the letter to an arrow and shot it to the Cloud of Glory. The Cloud usually rejected everything, but it let this message through because of Moses.

This passage talks about an internal state of a person. There is no connection between the property of “Jethro” and the property of “Moses.” Moses detached himself from Jethro, and that’s why Jethro says, ”We have a chance to establish a connection between us; if not between you and me, then between you and Zipporah, if not with Zipporah, then with her two sons.” He is looking for a way to make a connection. “Sending an arrow to the Cloud of Glory” means that Moses stays at the next (higher) level and that it’s impossible to reach him.

When in spirituality they say that “somebody sends a message (or an envoy or an intermediary) to another because it’s not possible to directly approach him,” it means that two properties (receiving and bestowal) are incompatible and do not understand each other. Jethro is a property of receiving (egoism), whereas Moses represents a property of bestowal. These two properties are incompatible within one person, so there must be an “adapter” that connects them together. The only thing that the property named “Jethro” is capable of is to raise its desires and “send a message to the Cloud of Glory,” meaning to the property of Moses that he is otherwise incapable of approaching and understanding.

The separation that exists between Moses and Jethro is essential and indispensable. At this point, together they begin creating a connection. It is the time when egoistic properties start manifesting in the people of Israel. The people of Israel exited Egypt without correcting these properties; they simply contracted these qualities without implementing them.

This is the time when these qualities gradually begin to correct; Jethro is a manifestation of the same egoistic properties, but now they have a desire to attain the level of Moses. This level is already “seeded” in Jethro, since Moses spent 40 years together with Jethro (the distance from Malchut to Bina) laying this point in him. This point is “the arrow” that Jethro sends to Moses. Naturally, Moses turns his way and faces him since no man is capable of rejecting it since he realizes how essential it is for him.

Moses tells Jethro everything that happened to him. Jethro starts to feel what he is talking about and blesses the Creator for everything He did to Israel. These two properties within one person start sensing each other and get incorporated into each other. Before anything else, Moses has to do the work at the level of Bina, and then continue using his inferior (lower) qualities (so called “people,”) meaning that spiritual work is always done at the thinnest plane first and only afterwards coarser desires are added to it.

Moses transfers the Torah to Jethro to the degree that the Torah enters egoism and starts working inside it. After Jethro receives the Torah, he in his turn explains to Moses how to work with egoism.

The distance between Malchut and Bina are 40 steps (or 40 years.) Jethro is Malchut that rises to the level of Bina and attaches to it. Moses then includes himself into Jethro and starts working in him, which is Bina that descends to Malchut.

Moses handed the Torah to Jethro in an allegorical form; he partially encompassed the steps that were already covered by Moses and by the people, meaning the qualities that had already been corrected. Then, Jethro tells Moses how to work with egoism meaning Malchut that rises to Bina creates the system that works with egoism. Since the upper level (Bina) has to incorporate egoism in order to figure out how to work with it and create a system of gradual correction of “egoism within egoism.” That’s why Jethro and Moses have to be included into each other instead of staying apart.

After Moses transfers the Torah to Jethro in the form that he needs the most in order to return to his people and correct their inferior desires (Jethro is a transitional step to lower desires that stand for “his people”), Moses receives from Jethro a system that works with egoism. He starts realizing the ways to break it into dozens and hundreds of thousands of pieces and learns how to work with the thickness (Aviut) of desires, meaning with something that is missing from Bina because of its transparency. When Aviut approaches Bina, there appears a necessity to initiate a hierarchical system. This is how the system is built, although it is not quite typical for Israel.

Israel is a property of Bina, a quality of bestowal. However, the people of Israel exited Egypt having absorbed egoism in its entirety. At this point, they began “arranging” egoism and realizing how to work with it step by step. Due to Jethro, the people of Israel acquired a chance to accept the system that addresses egoism.
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From KabTV’s “Mysteries of the Eternal Book,” 3/11/13

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Slander is disorder, detachment of connection, and communication between humans on the speaking level, but what happens with a person is projected to all other forms of nature that are found below him. Therefore, the behavior of the entire collective system—including the upper worlds with all that is in them and our world with all of its levels below the speaking: the animate, vegetative, and still—depends only upon the only free choice that exists in all of reality. Everything depends upon the only free choice: the correct connection between the parts on that level that can be established according to the will of the creatures themselves.

This connection cannot be established through elementary particles or molecules, not through animals that are lower than us, and not through angels who are higher than us, which means not through higher forces. The connection is established only on our level, the human level; only this establishes the entire hierarchy of forces and forms. Only human beings have free choice, and the choice belongs and is related only to how to establish the correct relationships between them instead of the first, naturally-given relationship—natural hatred and egoistic rejection—rather, the corrected relationship called, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” In this way, we reach the perfected functioning of all parts of creation as one integral system.

The entire Torah speaks only about the correction of the relationships between humans since by means of this, the entire reality returns to the corrected state. Other than this, there is no need to correct anything.

First, humanity needs to develop to the level where it can understand that it is broken. Then, it begins to feel that there is no choice and that it is necessary to do something with itself in order to correct the lack of coordination between its separate parts. Otherwise, it simply will disappear from the face of the earth, and then the method of correction is discovered.

Now we are in such a time where human desire and its characteristics have been changed and developed throughout evolution to the degree that we already have begun to feel that we are not able to fix the world, that is, to build the right relationship between us, and, on the other hand, we simply must do this otherwise there will be no future for us. And therefore, the method of correction has been revealed to arrange the right connection between humans so that all of humanity will be found in accord with nature, in harmony.

In all of the vastness of nature, only humans have inserted a defect into the wondrous collective harmony and integral unity of all the parts where each supports the others and feels itself as a component of a complete analog system that works with complete mutuality. Today we have reached a development that finally we have begun to realize that we have no way out and that we must become aware of the system of correction. Otherwise, we will have no chance of continuing human history; our state is very dangerous.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/19/13, Writings of Rabash

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Question: In one of the weekly Torah portions, it speaks mainly about Mount Sinai and the commandments, but it is called by the name of the hero “Yitro – Jethro.” Why? It speaks about him only in the beginning and this is not the main thing in it.

Answer: This only seems that way. We don’t know what is important in the Torah and what is not. It reveals everything in a contingent form like this so that only a person who is occupied with the work in order to enter into the spiritual world begins to understand what is actually being said in this instruction book. Therefore, there are four levels of understanding of the Torah: simple, literary, allegorical, and truth.

Jethro is a great system of the spiritual world that essentially connects the characteristic of bestowal and the characteristic of reception, and, specifically owing to that, a person can begin to work with his egoistical desires in the right form.

The characteristic Israel is the characteristic of bestowal abstracted from our world and not connected to the ego. Therefore, they speak about the Jews almost as if they were aliens: They have something unique that makes them stand out from the general masses. There exists such a suspicious look at them from the side of the rest of the nations—and this is truly so.

We see this regarding the relationship of the Jews to the world in regard to life and not in regard to the superficial egoistical relationship that is found on the surface, but rather if we dig deeper into them. In spite of all this, there is some kind of different relationship, different knowledge, different characteristics, different behavior, and caution, not from fear, but rather from an understanding that the world is not so simple, which is to say, from a characteristic of a unique relationship seen in them in regard to the world, in regard to fate, in regard to history, and in regard to some kind of external system.

In our world, this is emanated into all kinds of ordinary characteristics, However, derived from this, in these people from the beginning, there was rooted a spiritual source, a spark that is called the point in the heart, and, therefore, they are dual, and not just egoistical, for, within their ego, the point in the heart is also found.

This point can become prominent and can drag the ego after it, and it also can be the opposite when the ego drags the point in the heart after it. People of the first type embodied that Israel, that nation, which existed 2000 years ago from the days of Babylon until the destruction of the Second Temple. They lived, then, specifically with this point in the heart; it led them forward. They corrected their ego according to the instruction of the Torah.

And, after that, came the exile, a state in which the point in the heart was found within the ego and obeyed it, and, so, the ego dragged it. However, thanks to this point in the heart, the ego profited. Therefore we see that the Jews in our world are more egoistic, more successful, more agile, and so forth, which is to say, they are immersed in the ego more than all the rest of the nations.

Those characteristics that were given to them for the needs of ascent were used in them to go deeper into the ego. They understood how it was possible to use the ego in order to fulfill it, but this was a necessary mixture of the characteristics of reception and bestowal, and Jethro is the system that helps to direct the ego in the right way for gradual work on itself with the help of the point in the heart.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 3/11/13

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And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed, and when he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands were heavy, and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon, and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side, and his hands were steady until the setting of the sun.

And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword (The Torah, Exodus, “BeShalach,” 17:11 – 17:13).

Moses discovered the attribute of Bina, the attribute of bestowal in a person. The outstretched hands reaching above allegorically symbolize the connection with the Creator. This is the raising of MAN (request), the connection of the lower Partzuf with the upper.

When Moses raised his hands, which means when the attribute of Bina feeds from Keter (Crown), from the upper attribute of bestowal, then Israel wins. This means that these are the attributes of a man who tries to escape Amalek and rise above. He rises above Amalek and thus wins over him.

Amalek is the foundation of the world, the foundation of the ego. However, it’s not always clearly revealed. Ordinary people don’t think that they are egoists. They think of themselves as regular citizens, who give and take. Whereas those attributes that appear later in those people with the point in the heart who discover their nature as being completely egoistic, this is already Haman, Amalek, Balaam, and Balak.

It’s impossible to win over Amalek because the means and forces in a person to connect with the Creator are limited. Thus the act itself, the war with Amalek, continues from generation to generation. This means that by your rising to each spiritual level, you are always in war with him.

Thus it continues until you completely destroy Amalek by the force of the Creator. It happens when a person who already corrects himself grasps his corrected attributes and doesn’t ask for anything at all for himself. Then the Creator corrects in him his last egoistic attribute all at once.

This means that as long as subconsciously there is a grain of ego in me, since it is within me as my foundation, then it’s impossible for me to work when I am not connected to the action and its outcome. That is Amalek, like a snake, which in any case is slithering somewhere. Thus the war with it is never ending.

Only the special attributes in a person fight with him, and the others don’t since it’s impossible to put them to war against Amalek. They would fall. They would not be able to stand up to the request of your having only bestowal. Thus only a few attributes wage war. At this level, the attributes of bestowal win, meaning faith, which is the attribute of bestowal and love, and continue onwards.

Question: It’s said, “…and his hands were steady until the setting of the sun.” What is this state that is called, “until the setting of the sun?’’

Answer: As long as the upper Light is attracted to Moses, as long as there is the connection between Moses and Keter (between Bina and Keter), then there is force to oppose Amalek. And then afterward, everything disappears. This level is concealed and the next level is revealed since the day begins with the evening.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 2/4/13

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The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion, “HaShavuah” Selected Excerpts

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Question: Why does it say that if one performs a Mitzva, it protects and saves him and whereas the Torah protects and saves a person when he deals with it and when he doesn’t? Why is there such a division in the correction?

Answer: The Torah is called the Light that surrounds a person on the spiritual path. Even when the Inner Light that used to fill his vessel on the current level disappears, there is still the illumination of the Surrounding Light, which sustains a person. After all, if there is no Light that shines for a person, he ceases to exist. All of life is sustained only by the Light.

When a person doesn’t perform a Mitzva, meaning that he hasn’t discover a certain Light—the Light of Hassadim or the Light of Hochma—there is still a general illumination called “Torah” thanks to the state he has attained. This is the general plan of creation that is before a person and shining for him. He understands this, but at present, he is not dealing with a certain item in it with a specific correction.

These Mitzvot are a person’s actions according to the specific Reshimot (spiritual genes) that are revealed to him in which the Inner Light, the Surrounding Light, and the spiritual Partzuf take part. It is working on a certain self-correction. Therefore, there are 613 Mitzvot that include all the Torah. The Light of Ein Sof (Infinity) is called the Torah, the Light that will be revealed at the end of correction.

Torah is a system of desires (vessels), Lights, Reshimot, and different relations between the point in the heart and the Creator. This whole system that is meant to bring the point in the heart to adhesion with the Creator is called Torah.

Mitzva is a concrete step that we have to take on our way to attaining the goal.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/10/13, Shamati #6

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” Item 4: To understand these questions and inquiries, the only tactic is to examine the end of the act, that is, the purpose of Creation. For nothing can be understood in the middle of the process, but only at its end.

This is the rule, only by observing the end of the act can we understand all the details, the phases, the reasons for everything, and the whole process. It’s because only at the end does it become clear how essential every detail is and to what extent all these details had to be arranged one after the other in this order; only at the end do we see that everything is complete. The complete end is possible only when all the details are arranged correctly. But how do we reach the end if we are in the middle of our path?

And it is clear that there is no act without a purpose. We see this today in modern science, where everything does indeed operate according to a cause and effect relationship and according to absolute laws. At least on the level of the still, vegetative, and animate, nature, I discover great wisdom, logic, and common sense; there is nothing redundant, and everything is arranged so that every small detail is connected to all the other endless details. I can thus come to a conclusion regarding the level of the “speaking”: that the corruption I see in it stems from my corrupt personal perception, which doesn’t allow me to see the wonderful order that is also on the level of the “speaking,” but on the contrary, shows me a picture that is opposite from the truth. We actually see corruption and great disorder in human society, but it’s because we are causing it.

Of course, there can be another explanation for this phenomenon: We can say that the Creator is good and benevolent and that He includes everything and does everything, but that he has abandoned His creation. Baal HaSulam brings different examinations of this approach in his article “The Peace.” However, if I already respond to what I see in life and use different approaches, I understand better that it’s preferable to look at the end result. By the experience from our studies, we see that nature develops according to a certain goal, and so, Baal HaSulam says that we should first look at the goal of creation since it’s impossible to understand anything half way, but only by looking at the final result.

I know that there are those who cast over their backs the burden of Torah and Mitzvot (plural for Mitzva), saying the Creator has created the whole of reality, then left it alone. Here, Baal HaSulam refers to people who don’t believe that everything was created for man, that man is in the center of creation, and that only from this point can we develop correctly. Everything was created for me—our whole world and all the worlds—and I have to accept this, to reveal it, and to control the situation; “for me” means that I can correct it and use it. This use is called “observing the Mitzvot” which I do by the help of the Light that Reforms or the “Torah.” Thus I reach the goal of creation.

Indeed, without knowledge they have spoken, for it is impossible to comment on our lowliness and nothingness before we decide that we have created ourselves with all our corrupted and loathsome natures. It’s clear that we are not whole, but it’s impossible to decide that the world is lowly if we don’t see how everything in it gradually reveals its wholeness.

The question is: If the Creator is whole, then hasn’t He created evolution in a perfect way from the start? But that can’t be, since there also has to be a reality in the created being. This reality is opposite from the Creator, and so it has to be incorporated of two opposite parts: the attribute of the Creator and the attribute of the created being. The two attributes have to grow in creation and within it face one another; it’s in the middle between the two attributes, building itself of the two forces: the force of bestowal and the force of receiving.

This means that if we don’t understand the goal, we definitely won’t be able to justify creation and will find different justifications, such as: The Creator who is whole is disappointed with us, left us, and is found somewhere in His wholeness. Other versions are that the Creator is not found in these two forces at all, the good force and the evil force, or that there may be many good forces and many evil forces, etc.

One way or the other, it’s clearly impossible to justify what is going on unless a person receives the Torah, which means, unless he reaches the state that he understands that he is in a corrupt system and that it’s that way so that he will become part of it, will correct it by the Light as he draws himself each time more towards operating the system. Then he discovers that everything was created for him and it was impossible to reach the level of the Creator without first correcting the system, or to be more accurate, to install it. In the same way children build themselves through games by collecting and putting their toys together, it’s the same in our work, in the connection of the parts. So we have to play games of connection, unity, and mutual guarantee in order to understand the goal.
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From the 4^th part of Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/28/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar“

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The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion, “HaShavuah” Selected Excerpts

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