When turning to a Kabbalistic text, especially The Book of Zohar, we must realize the importance of spiritual attainment. After all, at the end of the day this is the only thing we want: not knowledge or scholastics, and not general knowledge of the material, but only pure attainment, which signifies that a person has revealed the Creator. This is the criterion by which we value things.

On the path to attainment the operating law is the law of equivalence of form, which does not make any compromises. On one hand, a person fully and entirely depends on the influence of the Upper Force. Nothing else can help him; he needs only help from Above. Whoever understands this builds the right attitude.

The Torah talks about this when describing the Egyptian exile: “The sons of Israel cried out from the work and their cry rose to the Creator.” In other words, they firmly knew that they will never attain anything by themselves.

On the other hand, spiritual progress is always built on the combination of opposites. Therefore, we also have to participate in the process ourselves. As a result, we make great efforts while at the same time being sure that only a “miracle from the heavens” will lead us out of the land of Egypt into the land of Israel.

It is necessary to reach despair from one’s own ability, and a person should not run away from this feeling. In addition, one must be confident that there will be help from Above and ceaselessly demand it with all of one’s strength.

A person must find himself in the state of the sons of Israel who cried out from the work. That’s when everything inside him along with the external environment fuses into one whole and creates these conditions, bringing him significantly closer to the exit from Egypt.

Therefore, we must try to correctly imagine ourselves in this point. This is where we perform all the necessary actions and later we don’t run away from the despair, but on the contrary, we transfer the entire force of our despair to a cry, a demand for correction.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/14/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
My Work Is Part Of The Common Work
Do I Exist Or Not?
The Light Of The Egoistic Desires

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalah Study, Kabbalistic Sources, Spirituality, Torah, Zohar - No Comments →

Questions: What does the “weekly Torah portion” mean in terms of one’s inner development?

Answer: A weekly portion is a part of our spiritual path, which starts and ends at a certain spiritual degree. It summarizes our progress at a given state. And then a new portion starts: a new turn, renewal of the upper mechanism that acts upon us and is called Zeir Anpin of the world of Atzilut.

A week or seven days is the seven Sefirot of Zeir Anpin, HGT-NHY-M, which get renewed again and again on each degree. From Zeir Anpin, we receive a certain portion of the Light and with it, correct ourselves. This means that we have performed a weekly correction and cannot do anything on the last day, Saturday.

Everything that gets corrected during the six days goes from the six Sefirot of Zeir Anpin (HGT-NHY) into Malchut.
[29502]
From the Lesson on the Weekly Torah Portion 12/9/10

Related Material:
The Spiritual Calendar
The Dating Of States
Working With The Light

Filed under: Inner Work, Torah, Zohar - No Comments →

Question: The weekly Torah portion "Vaigash" is full of tears, encounters, and dramatic events that touch many people. What is it about this portion that stirs up so many feelings in us?

Answer: A person goes through very tragic and drastic states, including confusion and disorientation. He is like a baby that is in a forest or an absolutely unfamiliar place. He does not know what to do or whom to turn to. He goes through extremely frightening situations and is completely confused.

Usually we get very emotional when looking back at situations we have gone through in life, and similarly, in spirituality when I remember this, I feel overcome by feeling. Granted, now theses memories hold a certain sweetness. You look back to the past with love, the way people look at a child, while in fact, the states were very difficult back then!

A person does not know how to come out of them and without support from a teacher who is by his side, I don’t think it is even possible. Today the whole world has to reach correction and that’s why we have a group and dissemination, which give us a very powerful and expansive support from millions of people who are together with us in one system.

However, at the same time the path remains individual and every person goes through it based on his own inner impressions. These are astounding states! Even if they are very unpleasant at the time you actually go through them, they are still wonderful! They give you the depth of understanding and sensation of the entire creation, which comes later! A person begins to see, feel, and be included in all the worlds simultaneously!

Therefore, we shouldn’t give up on this and must advance. That is how we will come to the "promised land."
[29499]
From the program "Weekly Torah Portion" on 12/9/10

Related Material:
A Weekly Renewal
How To Help A Friend

Filed under: Q&A, Spiritual Teacher, Suffering, Torah, World - No Comments →

The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion “VaYigash,” Selected Excerpts
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

Filed under: Torah, Zohar - No Comments →

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and so on are stages of the soul’s development. A new force arises inside the soul each time and begins to drive the development and all that accompanies it.

The new force is always a will to receive and a will to bestow. The development is phased, however, with one period following another. Until I have completed one stage of development, I don’t know what the next one will be, and so on.

After the seven years of plenty, I don’t know what the seven years of famine are. It seems to me that I am advancing, and I will enter the spiritual world the same way. Suddenly, instead of the spiritual world – boom! – the Egyptian darkness descends. Similarly, I don’t know that all of a sudden I exit the Egyptian darkness, the terrible, pitch-black darkness when my desire has no fulfillment, neither the Surrounding nor Inner Light, and I come to the Light.

Development occurs in stages. We just need to know how to advance, but every revelation is a surprise, a complete surprise.
[28740]
From the Lesson on Weekly Torah Portion, 12/2/10

Related Material :
Spirituality Is The Unity Of Darkness And Light
The Soul Is Between Darkness And Light
When Darkness Is Full Of Light

Filed under: Inner Work, Torah, Zohar - No Comments →

Never in history has there been such a powerful environment as our world group, which aspires to reveal spirituality so much, prepares for it, and gives every person the opportunity to join it and draw energy from it. Indeed, all the necessary forces are already present inside it. Let every person imagine that he is in the position of Rabbi Yossi Ben Kisma, who valued his environment so much that he was not willing to leave it at any price.

Start to value your environment. It is the only place where I reveal spirituality and the only condition that the Creator has placed before me. It is the only free action; nothing else will help.

This is exactly where our “evil inclination” is concealed, the Machsom. The entire problem lies only in this and all the efforts must be placed only here.

We are now at a very critical state! Either we will “freeze” in this state or we will make a super effort and approach the second blow to Pharaoh. The second blow will be of a completely different quality. We are starting to reveal Pharaoh, his qualities, even deeper inside us, and the qualities of the Creator against it.

The Creator tells Moses: “Let’s go to Pharaoh together with Me.” It is necessary to attain both of them together, one against the other. The Creator hardens Pharaoh’s heart so you would get to know the Creator in opposition to this. That is why He says, “Let’s go!” So accept the invitation!
[28483]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/2/10, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
We Have Received The Opportunity To Ascend
Salvation Comes In A Blink Of An Eye
The Phases Of War With Pharaoh

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Torah - 1 Comment →

The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion “Meketz,” Selected Excerpts
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

Filed under: Torah, Zohar - No Comments →

Question: What does it mean to reveal broken desires or Kelim? Do we reveal them in our aspiration to attain the Creator or in the desire to unite with one another?

Answer: We reveal our broken Kelim only in the desire to unite with each other in order to attain the Creator. And we reveal them more and more each time.

Let’s say that at the recent convention we discovered that on one hand we would like to unite, but on the other hand we do not desire it. Something on the inside stops us; there is some enemy, hater, inner stupor, or Machsom that does not let me come closer to others and unite with them.

This is the first plague of the ten Egyptian plagues or blows to Pharaoh (Pharaoh is the name of the one stopping me). I feel that he does not let me unite with others, even though I don’t yet fully realize: why I have to unite with them, where is the Creator here, and how is it possible to bestow to Him. For now I only have an aspiration to unite.

It will happen differently the second time. We want to unite and we have to be together to attain spirituality because spirituality becomes revealed only in the unity among us. This will become a little bit clearer to us. On the other hand, we will once again feel that something stops us. We demand, “Free us!” But he does not let us go.

The Creator continuously reveals a more powerful ego inside us, “hardening Pharaoh’s heart.” Then we will go out and attack again, and this does not have to happen only at a convention. We will then see that we are unable to do it ourselves; we need an external force. So where is this external force? We begin to desire for the Creator to unite us; then we will break through the Machsom.

Next time we will begin to feel that breaking the Machsom means breaking the Machsom between us. We shouldn’t attack some external boundary. The Machsom is between us, in our hearts, which are isolated from each other by an egoistic boundary.

Afterward, by making another attack, we will feel that we do not need all of this for ourselves; we don’t need it in order to unite and reveal spirituality, but in order to bestow to the Creator through it. This is the “last stop.”

All of this becomes revealed gradually. Once we reveal all of these phases in practice and experience them to the fullest, we will thereby create the right desire, Kli, or vessel for receiving the Light. Otherwise you cannot reveal the Light. The Light is abundantly present, but you have to reveal the right desire or Kli for it; you have to attain the same frequency or the same quality. This is possible only through the actions that come to us as they create a true desire in which the Light will become revealed.

So let us get ready to make the next attack on Pharaoh!
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/30/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

Related Material:
Patch Up My Soul!
Machsom Is A Psychological Barrier
The Last Plagues Of Pharaoh

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Q&A, Spirituality, Torah, Unity - No Comments →

When we build ourselves in the middle line, we must connect the property of bestowal, Bina, the right line, and the property of reception, Malchut, the left line, correctly. Their unification forms a Kli (vessel) called a “cave,” and this cave is double (Machpelah). In the “earth,” Malchut, there is space suitable for living, while life is Bina.

But before Bina can enter Malchut, a reverse action has to take place: Malchut has to enter Bina for Bina to know how to accommodate Malchut and for Malchut to know how to demand Bina’s participation. As a result, mutual penetration of Malchut and Bina or a “double cave” gets formed, and it is the foundation of the general correction of the created being.

Since this is the place of correction, the forefathers, the desires corrected by the intention to bestow, reside in it. They had attained the correct connection of Bina and Malchut: They receive in Malchut and bestow to Bina, meaning that they work with reception and bestowal.

But what gets buried? We bury the intention to receive that envelops the desire like a shell (Klipa), thereby turning it into the evil inclination. Therefore, burial is regarded as the act of correction.

We don’t touch desires: The greater they are, the better. But at each degree, or in each generation, we bury the “intention to receive for self gratification” and get corrected by establishing balance between reception and bestowal.
[27855]
From the Lesson on Weekly Torah Portion 10/29/10

Related Material:
The Ups And Downs Of Creating Love

Filed under: Inner Work, Torah, Zohar - No Comments →

The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion “VaYeshev,” Selected Excerpts
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

Filed under: Torah, Zohar - No Comments →