On one hand, nature treats me lovingly. Even if I can’t see this with the naked eye, when penetrating a bit deeper, I can see its true attitude. People who are close to nature feel that it is entirely good.

At the same time, externally it is very harsh, similar to a loving but demanding father who scrupulously takes a child through the phases of development. That is how we must view what is happening. Otherwise we won’t understand good and evil and will only get confused.

If I want to feel nature this way, then I must reject the externality and immerse myself inwards. Precisely from nature’s external attitude, which seems negative to me, I must start to develop based on the realization of evil. In reality nature is showing me a negative of myself. By correcting it, I will enter inside and will feel its love.

All the negative external phenomena are intended to show me what I must correct in order to attain love. It’s exactly how parents raise a child: The father looks at him with a strict gaze and the mother is nervous. It’s very hard to recognize their love. But this is the discernment that I have to be very sensitive to while developing the inner feeling of the realization of evil.

Perhaps I don’t notice the negative. The parents are only giving me hints, but I don’t understand what they want from me or perhaps I don’t feel that they need something from me at all. Instead I continue fooling around. Then they tell it to me directly, but I still don’t listen. At the end, after all the persuasions and warnings, the troubles start, and that is something I understand very well. “Why didn’t you tell me that right away?” I wonder.

This is the problem of all of us and of each of us separately – a lack of sensitivity. If I now felt what I lack in order to discern nature’s love, then I would immediately correct myself. Therefore, we have to take care of just one thing – our receptivity to the realization of evil between us and to the love coming from the Creator.

We don’t lack examples. Open your eyes and you will see them. So what is standing in our way? The problem is that the world does not imbue us with a basic attitude to goodness. I need a society or environment in which I will reveal goodness and compare it to my own evil.

The realization of evil begins the moment a person feels that he is worse than those around him. He sees them all as interconnected and united by love for one another, but he cannot join them and feel that he shares that unity. This gap is the evil that a person has to reveal and correct.

By realizing the evil and by trying to correct it, a person discovers that he does not have the slightest shred to grab hold of or the slightest access. He clearly sees that the friends are united and he is separated from them, and he does not see any opportunity to join them, having no loophole into their unity. For that he needs the Light that reforms. Only the Creator’s help will save him.

That is where we finally come in contact with the unity of Israel, the Torah, and the Creator.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/27/11 on Global Education

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Question: How can an egoistic heart ask for bestowal?

Answer: Of course, an egoistic heart is unable to ask for bestowal. It prays for something that it deems better for itself. It doesn’t know how to pray in any other way.

However, the nature in which a person exists is one thing, but how he uses that mechanism is a different matter. Even though he is an egoist and his prayer and attitude to others are egoistic, nevertheless he arranges this entire mechanism in such a way that lets him attract the Light that reforms.

How does the Torah, the Light that reforms act? I am an egoist and I plan on using it egoistically, but through that I activate a mechanism that attracts Light to me that turns me into the opposite of what I am today. This means that this Light returns me back to its source.

If I was already asking for bestowal on my own, then I would not need to be brought back to the source. Everything would already be clear. However, everything is arranged so that even when I shout for bestowal, this is still reception in disguise.

The same thing happens on every level. When I ascend to a certain level and check: What did I pray for? What did I do? What love for the neighbor did I talk about? What I find is that it was all egoistic. What seemed like holiness on the lower level appears as “garbage” when you look at it from above.

But there is a special mechanism of ascent: the connection between AHP of the upper one and Galgalta Eynaim of the lower one. If I face darkness and confusion, and I lower myself before the society that helps me to do so, then I attract the Light that reforms. I mix Malchut with Bina – mercy that reigns in the upper one, with the force of judgment that is in me. That is how I attain my correction.

Therefore, we are not required to be holy from the beginning, but only to organize everything to the extent we are able in order to attract holiness to us. Before that, I am opposite to it! Otherwise, how would it be possible to correct yourself after the breaking?

Every time we receive any new state, all the previous states are erased from our memory so as not to confuse us. The current state is also not very clear to us and from this darkness we have to start arranging everything so as to attract the influence of the upper force to us – the influence of the higher level, the quality of bestowal that we don’t have. We continuously receive a new force and become a new creation.

This is what the common prayer is all about. It is the prayer to acquire the force to be included in society and to feel care for the neighbor.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/27/11, Preparation to the WE! Convention

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Question: What prevents a person from reaching the prayer of society if he already sees that all his intentions are for his own sake?

Answer: The problem is that a person understands that his intentions are egoistic, but he is willing to tolerate that. That’s because he only sees how ugly these intentions are, but he doesn’t understand what kind of harm they cause him. This is the entire problem!

If I simply accept the fact that I am an egoist, then so what? But I have to feel how this is killing me. Only then will I be able to separate from my egoistic intentions. My own ego will separate me from the thing that causes me harm.

So at first, I separate from my egoistic thoughts by virtue of egoism itself. That means Pharaoh brings the sons of Israel closer to the Creator.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/27/11, Preparation to the WE! Convention

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Writings of Rabash, “Love of Friends”: A man found him while he was wandering in the field and asked him, “What are you looking for?” To which he replied, “I am looking for my brothers. Tell me, where are they?” … This is talking about a person who has veered off the path of the spiritual development, who does not know the true way there, who has already reached despair and thinks that he will never attain his goal. That is why he answers, “I want to be in the group where there is love of friends because then I will be able to ascend up the path leading to the Creator.”

That is how we wander around, not knowing how to reach the right state. We don’t understand how to establish the connection with spirituality and where to find it. However, in fact we are already in the spiritual world now, which is why we are wandering around this field. We already have the opportunity to establish a relationship with the group and to connect with the friends, but we are unable to do this. Thus, we walk by, like we are blind. We are already in the right place, but we cannot find this connection, as if we are wandering around in the dark.

This darkness is not outside, but inside of us, as a result of our blindness and lack of understanding. What’s missing here is some kind of epiphany in feeling and reason so I would understand in what form I have to connect with the friends. Then I will find how to make the breakthrough to the spiritual development, to the first contact with spirituality which is called “three days of absorption of the spiritual seed.”

For that I have to understand how to bind myself to the environment the right way, and that is the most difficult thing to do. In our world we know of cases when a woman is unable to get pregnant. And it is much more difficult yet to get into the spiritual world.

The Torah talks about the great problems of infertility that each of the fore-mothers had and how difficult it was for them to get pregnant. This is a symbol of how difficult it is to bind oneself to the environment.

How, then, is it possible to help a person who feels that he is lost and does not see any chance of advancing spiritually? He has put years into it and seems to know and understand everything, other than the direction. At first he thought that the knowledge he receives will help him, or some kind of actions, or maybe time will do the job.

But later he reveals that nothing helps him and then he becomes confused. That is when an angel comes to him and finally asks him, “What are you asking for? What are you looking for here?” Then the person checks himself and starts to understand that he lacks precisely the connection with the environment, “I am looking for my brothers!”

This is already a great attainment where you understand that you will be able to realize your spiritual development only on this path, inside of the connection with others. The group turns into a spiritual place. Instead of the material, physical group that he sees now, he will feel the inner connection between everyone and will turn this connection into mutual bestowal. He will reveal the net connecting them, which is called the system of the upper worlds, and all of the worlds will enter it.

This group will become the place where he will gradually reveal all of the spiritual levels, until he will come so close to the other 125 levels that he will unite with them into one whole. This will be called the end of his correction (Gmar Tikkun).

If a person begins to feel that he will be able to realize his spiritual development precisely in this way, through the relationships with the environment, this means that he is wandering around the Creator’s field and looking, while knowing what to look for and what to ask for. He still has to go through a difficult road up ahead, but this point where he decides that the spiritual world can only be reached through unity with the environment is extremely important. That’s because it is opposite to all of his previous, material, egoistic development.

This point marks the beginning of his development and his connection with others “from himself outwards, for the sake of bestowal.” Therefore, this point is the beginning for the new path.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/23/11, Preparation to the WE! Convention

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The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion “Shmini,” Selected Excerpts
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The entire freedom of choice that each of us has, with each of us being a piece of the multi-dimensional “Lego” of creation, lies in revealing our total connection with everyone else to the extent we can tolerate it. Each person connects with all the others with his upper part (Galgalta Eynaim) and his lower part (AHP), and only a point remains of himself in which he wishes to realize his loyalty to those who are above or below him.

We have to go through this realization of our state gradually, by degrees of the desire that awakens in us until experiencing its entire depth (Aviut) in all of its forms. Thus, we continuously reveal the opportunity of a new, more multi-faceted connection with the upper ones and the lower ones.

The empty space that continuously becomes revealed to us in the connection with the upper or the lower ones is the desire that we have to correct. The desire always consists of 620 parts, and therefore, their correction is called “carrying out 620 commandments” with the help of the Light that reforms, which is called Torah.

That is why it is written that every day a person must carry out “620 commandments” by virtue of studying the “Torah.” That means he studies how to use these 620 desires for the sake of bestowal in order to unite entirely with all the parts of creation that are higher or lower in relation to him.

That is how we attain our state: We are in it from the beginning, but we reveal it for ourselves gradually. We receive the force to do this from the environment, meaning from those “Lego pieces” with which we are connected —from the upper parts of our soul, whose AHPs connect with our Galgalta Eynaims, or from the lower parts, with whose Galgalta Eynaims we connect through our AHP.

The Creator always gives us the opportunity to find the forces to advance in this “multi-dimensional” unity. It is always possible to find an empty space in which the Torah will be revealed, the Light and 620 desires that we can correct, and through them, connect with one another. That is how this entire system is arranged.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/15/11, Writings of Rabash

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The weekly Torah portion “Pekudei (Accounts)”describes who takes part in erecting the Tabernacle (Ithamar son of Aaron, Bezalel son of Hur, Aholiav son of Achisamach), as well as the structure of the Tabernacle, the materials used to furnish it, the specifics of how all its accessories and sacred coverings…. After the work on constructing the Tabernacle is completed, they bring it to Moses, and Moses blesses it….

The Tabernacle is our soul. There is nothing more important than its construction since all our work lies in constructing the integral soul, the oneness of all of us. Each of us is a part of the collective soul that is regarded as “Adam” (man or human), and when we build a correct connection between us, it means that we build the Tabernacle.

Kabbalists pass to us the knowledge and the program we must accomplish in the language of branches. When they tell us about trees and rocks, what textiles and metals we must use, and who specifically must do this work or the other, they speak about the four levels of our desire (the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking) and how these desires have to inter-connect. By unifying, we gradually construct the integral soul where we find the presence of the Creator, the upper Light. Thereby, the Tabernacle becomes the place of our spiritual life.

It is written:“I created the evil inclination, and I created the Torah as a spice.” This means that first, we get to know how much we hate each other. Then, we reform this hate and turn it into love and oneness.

Granted, it is a long path that cannot be described in a few words, but when we achieve interconnection and discover that it is actually the vessel, the receptacle of the Upper Light and spiritual life, we begin to realize what a difficult, delicate work it is. We must, with great accuracy, with a pair of tweezers, assemble this vessel by connecting all people in the world with one another.

We will have to do this, and this work has already started in our generation. We have reached the point when global egoism unfolded in us. Therefore, the method of its correction, the wisdom of Kabbalah, is being revealed as well.

It describes in what way we should be interconnected and how to get to know the upper force, the Light that reforms, which will help us to unify since, as we are, there are no grounds for the connection within us. In the degree of our unification, we will begin to comprehend what the Bible describes because it tells about the degrees of our correction, the establishment of the connection between us.

This description is viewed as a manual on building a house with all its accessories and internal furnishings, but it becomes a sanctuary. Sacred (Kadosh) means separated from our egoism which resides above us. When we unite among us in the union of love, it is regarded as holiness. This is the degree of Bina, the level of bestowal that we acquire by love of others when we unite in mutual guarantee as one man with one heart.

When we gradually arrange such a connection, we merge into one soul yet again and find the Light that fills us, the presence of the Creator. By way of the force that is revealed in the unity between people, you can rise to a higher degree.

This is despite the fact that it takes place in the barren “desert,” meaning a person doesn’t have any more strength, has no place to go, and doesn’t know how to move ahead, yet the upper force is revealed which shows us how to rise higher and higher until we reach the land of Israel, the desire totally aimed toward the Creator. Our egoistic desire becomes fully transformed for bestowal, for the good of others, according to the principle of “love your neighbor as yourself.”
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From the Lesson on Weekly Torah Portion 3/3/2011

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The 613 Mitzvot (commandments) and the building of the Tabernacle signify the correction of the 613 desires in man. In order to construct the correct, reformed connection with the others, we must connect with them through 613 channels, similar to the vessels that connect all the organs in our body.

We need to correct these desires by having changed their egoistic intention to use others for self-gratification to the desire to bestow. Thereby, we will achieve a state where we will be interconnected by a global, integral connection as it exists in Nature and as our current world demands us to do.

Imagine that from each person, 613 desires expand like tentacles, stretching toward all the others. All of the desires intertwine and create a binding grid between us. In addition, each desire contains five levels of coarseness: 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4. All of this interweaves and tangles into one big, thick layer permeated by an enormous amount of the various types of ties.

This collective desire consisting of all our desires is regarded as Shechina (Divinity), the Tabernacle (“Mishkan” or dwelling place), the Temple, the receptacle, our integral vessel of bestowal, Knesset Israel (Assembly of desires for the Creator).

People who strive to go “straight to the Creator” (Yashar El) and desire to reveal Him bring all their desires together (Knesset or assembly) and build the collective desire where the Creator is revealed. This is the work to construct the Temple, the “house” of the vessel which you have built from your desires so that Divinity would unfold in it, meaning the spiritual property of love and bestowal, or the Creator.

In addition, you receive what initially had been prepared for you and all of us: the Light that fills this collective desire. So, it is regarded as the deposit, a guarantee (Pkudin, deposits, from the word Pikadon, recommendations, commandments, Mitzvot). You sacrifice (Makriv) your desire by nullifying your egoism and, thereby, bring yourself closer (Mekarev) to the Creator’s revelation.
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From the Lesson on Weekly Torah Chapter 3/3/2011

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Question: In one of your lectures you said that a person must add the Creator to his list of friends. What does that mean in our spiritual work?

Answer: If you ask psychologists, they can tell you about what happens to a young couple who has recently gotten married. When they start living together, after the honeymoon period is over, there comes a period of mutual complaints, dissatisfaction, tension, and conflicts, and now they have to work really hard in order to continue living together.

These periods can be long or short, and this depends entirely on the example they saw in their parent’s home. At this time, a young couple needs advice from psychologists or parents to help them connect on the basis of mutual respect and compromise, instead of love.

They have to learn how to avoid pressing each other’s buttons, which cause the conflicts between them while they remain inside theirs egos and are egoistically attached to their partner. This is what happens in our daily life. However, this approach doesn’t work in our spiritual development.

While advancing in spirituality, a person does have to look for these points of tension and make them visible instead of concealing them because “the Torah will come out” precisely from these points. If a person views them correctly, wishing to discern and utilize them in order to reform himself, then instead of demanding something else, he strives to attain his own inner evil.

This is possible only when a person walks along with the Creator, as if holding onto His hand, as it is written, “Come unto Pharaoh with me!” One has to discern this Pharaoh, this evil within, and then tame and reform it, unify with it, and flee from it. But while working with the evil, a person must always be bound to the goal and use the Creator’s force.

All conflicts, arguments, and tensions can be revealed between the friends in the group only on the condition that they strive for unity, if they make efforts to come together. Only then will they see that they hate one another and don’t have any desire to be one. Therefore, they must bring the Creator into it so He may reform this hate. After all, it is the Creator who shows man where his evil resides. This is the place where He doesn’t dwell, the place without Light.
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From the lesson on 2/25/11, Writings of Rabash

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