Today humanity is trying to unite. People instinctively understand that together is better than alone. Different countries are trying to make agreements over and over again, to enter a union that will make them stronger and more successful. But do they succeed in doing this? In the end we see that this leads to conflicts and even wars. The problem remains: We do not know how to unite.

However, the urge to consolidate has naturally permeated humanity for many years already. This is the partnership that is inherent to nations and people: I guard myself and yet I still see that it’s worth it for me to unite with others. Together we will create a monopoly and become stronger than everyone else.

This drive that has not grown any weaker will eventually bring us to such enormous troubles that nature itself will show us the need to unite. It is revealing to us that we have to merge into a single, global, integral whole, to totally complete one another, to become perfect, whole, and accept the “round world” where all the parts are interconnected.

If nature puts the challenge this way, then how should we now build human society? After all, the problem of egoism is concentrated only in human society. This is the only place where egoism works against unity. As a result, we discover that we are incapable of uniting.

Why did the Creator put a stumbling block in front of us, making us different and unlike one another? If we were the same, everything would be clear: Every person gives a certain amount and receives a certain amount, and the matter is settled.

Yet we are different, and therefore we have to ascend above egoism and activate the intention for the sake of bestowal, without any connection to personal benefit. Only on this condition will man be completely able to unite with others. Then he will reach bestowal for the sake of bestowal, and then—reception for the sake of bestowal. Only if every person takes this path will perfect unity emerge among us.

This is why we were not created the same: because otherwise we would solve the problem on the material, animate level and would become tantamount to ants in an anthill.
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/12/11, “The Peace”

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Question from Moscow: What does it mean to desire to unite? And what does unity feel like?

Answer: Apparently these questions are coming from our Moscow group in anticipation of the upcoming convention in Moscow. What does it mean to unite? Why? Why are we holding this convention? The question is correct.

Why should we unite? To be frank, this is impossible to explain. If a person has a Reshimo (informational gene) that remained in him from the unity he once experienced while being in the common desire, where he once revealed the Creator and then lost this sensation, and now this Reshimo is awakening again, then he desires to return to this state. “I want it!”

For example, some people like eating frogs. Well, what can you do…. I don’t have this desire, but to them it is a heavenly delight. That is exactly how the desire for spirituality emerges. It awakens—and that’s all. What can you do?… One person starts feeling a desire for frogs, and another—for spirituality. This desire awakens from the inside and it does not depend on us.

Why would someone start feeling a desire to eat frogs? It’s because he once tasted it and felt a pleasant taste, got used it, received the corresponding upbringing—and now he desires this.

But another person was in spirituality at some point and a Reshimo has remained in him, and now it awakens. That is why it is impossible to explain what unity feels like to people who don’t have a Reshimo from the spiritual state. But it is possible to show them that it’s worth it to unite with one another because that way we will come out of the general crisis, and therefore, it’s worth it for them to join those who are setting out to correct the world’s current state. After all, they will also benefit from this.

This is what we have to tell people. They don’t understand what spirituality means, or the Creator, adhesion, unity, the feeling of perfection, eternity, harmony with nature, the upper spheres…. This is meaningless to them so they will tell you, “Leave me alone! Just give me something in this life—peace, safety, good health. I don’t need anything else!” Every person speaks based on his desire.

When you are speaking to that kind of person, you have to show him that he also won’t be able to fulfill his desire unless he goes together with everyone toward unification because this is what the global, integral nature demands. We have evidence to rely on and ways to explain this to him. Therefore, you tell him that the world requires unity because this is what nature demands. You have to speak to a person on his level instead of telling him about the Creator and spirituality. Due to having no other way, he will also join in. But every person has to be addressed according to his or her desire.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/11/11, The Zohar

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Even in the material world we don’t have any opportunity to become a nation living in our own country, on our own land unless we first correct ourselves spiritually. Only the forces descending from above build the material conditions for us here.

In general, we must try to understand to the best of our ability what the material world is. It is not a goal, but the smallest, most external means to start ascending. In this extremely flawed material reality that is lying on the lowest level, we must start carrying out the work of unification in order to enter the spiritual world.

After that we will turn to all the other nations and show them this work so they would also unite with each other. As a result, all of us, the whole world will become one single whole, one family, and will then ascend to its spiritual level. That is the only way we will realize our predestination, the purpose for which we exist.

We have to give everything its proper importance: our world compared to the spiritual world, the material nation of Israel compared to its spiritual analogue, the material state of Israel compared to the spiritual land of Israel. Every thing has to have its own place according to the final goal. Precisely this determines an object’s importance and the means to use it.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/10/11, “Inheritance of the Land”

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Question: What is the use of studying The Book of Zohar if I discover that I am merely trying to run away from my earthly problems?

Answer: A person studying The Zohar does not have any earthly problems besides one: to unite with the friends to such a degree that the upper Light will become revealed inside of the connection between them. All the problems come only from the lack of Light. There is no other source and no other solution.

A person can fuss about and try to correct this state using all the possible earthly means, and he will discover that he seems to have corrected it, but instead of correcting it, even worse problems arose, and everything became much worse. Why is that?

That’s because he thought that he could overcome the previous problems alone, but maybe now, when greater troubles came crashing down on him, he will no longer think that he will overcome them alone and perhaps he will turn to the right solution. And if that doesn’t help, then he will be sent even greater problems until his cup of suffering overflows and he will see “the hand of God” in it, like Pharaoh’s sages did.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/8/11, The Zohar

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The upper Light is in a place called “Shechina,” which is the unification between the souls. With our efforts we have to attain unity among us. Then we will reveal the Light that builds, creates, corrects, and fulfills all of creation.

This Light is always present in the Shechina, in the assembly of souls that aspire to the Creator (Knesset Israel), in the unification among us.

The Zohar is the same source of Light, but on the condition that we imagine ourselves (and it doesn’t matter how many millions of us there are) as being the group of Rabbi Shimon, which had ten people who sat, connected together, and received this Light called “Zohar”—“the upper illumination.” This is the Light that influences us, corrects us, and elevates us.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/4/11, The Zohar

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Our desire is starting to take on the right form. We desire to unite, to reveal a pull toward unity inside every person despite egoism. This is very important: In spite of my egoism, I make efforts to internally aspire and come closer to the friends, to keep them all in a tight connection like people who are close to me in spirit and aim.

The most important thing now is for me to be able to trust them: If we are united, then they will ensure that I will not forget about our path and will only become stronger in the common consolidation.

I aspire to unite with the friends and I hope that this aspiration will enable me to receive an unquenchable desire for unity from them. This is all we need. From the very beginning and until the end of correction, this is the only thing required from us.

This is why it is written that love for the neighbor as for yourself is the concluding, summarizing rule of the entire Torah. There is nothing more than that, and we must aim our path only in this direction. It doesn’t matter how much this turns us off. If we want to carry out the program of creation by an accelerated scenario, then there is just one opportunity: to start from the opposite, most hateful and repulsive state, and from there to take steps toward love for the neighbor.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/21/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: When a person tries to come out of Egypt, meaning self-love, he receives blows which he can overcome only by asking the Creator for help. But besides that there is also the material, earthly egoism which receives blows at its level, such as problems with one’s family, health, income, and so on. How should we relate to these problems?

Answer: No matter what kind of problem emerges in my life, first and foremost I must see it as a disturbance that came from the Creator. Even if I am in pain, I must still rise above that disturbance through faith above reason. Despite it all, I know that I have to make calculations above the disturbance and not under its weight. I must stay in touch with its “sender,” the Creator.

As for responsible actions, in the realm of this world I have to resolve all the problems by the commonly accepted methods. When it comes to the bank, work, family, and health, I have to take care of everything just like any person in our world.

Thus, you build up a two-sided attitude to the problems:

– First of all, they come from the Creator and you are dealing only with Him. You want to have these disturbances because they give you the opportunity to rise above knowledge and stay in touch with the Creator. Then you are correctly treating the disturbances and you even begin to love and respect them. After all, no matter how much they bother you, no matter how much salt they put on your wounds, and no matter how nerve-wracking they are, this is exactly what helps you rise above them.

– Secondly, you resolve the incoming problems the way it’s customary in the material world.

Both of these dimensions must be present in your attitude. You attribute the problems to the Creator, and at the same time you want to work with them. We do not throw Pharaoh out of our lives, but we enjoy his troubles. After all, only through them can we reject him and separate from him, and thus ascend higher and higher.

Pharaoh is my most precious flesh, my core, my most sensitive point, my child, the most important and finest string inside of me.

Question: But Pharaoh resists the unity of friends. What do the material troubles have to do with it?

Answer: They also distract you from the inner work. It’s not accidental that so many Kabbalists experienced material problems. The Creator deliberately caused them to be sick and despised by the people around them. It was in order to give them a place where they could overcome.

At the end of the day, all of this is a result of the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. The desire gradually becomes revealed inside of you and in conformity to it you experience various problems, both in others and in yourself.

Question: Do I have to ask for help in these cases? After all, the Creator helps us in only one respect—unification.

Answer: That’s right, and the problems obstruct you from doing this. When you are sick, it’s difficult for you to focus on love for friends. Most likely, you forget all about it. And that means you have to ask for help. There is none else besides Him. Everything comes from the Creator, but it happens through different channels.

You have to attain the goal, but your body, your “little donkey” is sick and cannot carry you. So what should you do? Leave him to die? But you need him on the path.

Why do you perceive this world separately from the spiritual work? Even small disturbances can be helpful if you work with them correctly. No matter what happens to us, it’s important to remember that this comes from a single Source, until we really come to feel that we are in spiritual exile.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/13/11, Shamati

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Question: What should the world Kli focus on now in order to feel that we are in Egypt and to really desire to come out of it?

Answer: We have to remain in an ascent instead of a descent. Each of us and all of us together should never descend or stray from the established order because this will definitely cast us down.

We must very quickly turn to the week of Passover and prepare ourselves, understanding what the exodus from Egypt means. We must prepare for this inspiration and this surge with all our might. The more powerful our aspiration will be, the more we will be influenced by the Lights of Passover.

We have to actualize this right now. First of all, we must be united. It’s not one person that comes out of Egypt, but everyone without exception: women, men, children, and the elderly. This is the unification toward the common exodus. This is what we have to think about, constantly keeping the intention.

There is less than a week left until the holiday. A “holiday” is an external sign, but by using these seven days we will be able to unite, to create such a connection and form such intentions at the lessons that we will “get a lift” forward.

Some people are experiencing a descent and others—an ascent. Others yet are feverishly undergoing changes. But we need all of these states. A person must value a descent just as an ascent because you can’t have one without the other.
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: What signs can help us tell whether a person is advancing in the study of The Book of Zohar?

Answer: Which books you study is irrelevant in this regard because besides studying The Book of Zohar we also study Talmud Eser Sefirot as well as articles and letters by Baal HaSulam and Rabash which explain how to advance toward unity among us and toward mutual study. They help us to get organized correctly. After we organize among ourselves into a study group, we begin studying actual Kabbalah.

The purpose of the study group in Kabbalah is not to study the material, but to aspire through reading it to realize the “Segula,” meaning to evoke the influence of the Light upon us from a higher level. If during the study we desire for the Light to become revealed inside our unity, then by this effort we build the higher level and then our effort brings about the emergence of that level.

However, if we study trying only to understand the material, then we do not study the Torah. That’s because the Torah refers precisely to our effort and the appearance of a new level in it.

Therefore, progress in studying the primary sources (The Zohar, the books of the Ari, and Talmud Eser Sefirot) is determined by the force of your aspiration to reveal the next level inside of you, instead of the desire just to know the material.

There is no advancement in understanding or accumulating knowledge because prior to the sensation of the upper world, all our notions of it are incorrect.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/11, The Zohar

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I can say with hope and confidence that we are standing at the threshold of real spiritual actions. If we convince ourselves that they become revealed inside of the interconnection among us and this is where the Creator is revealed, if we desire this, then all the opportunities are right in front of us.

The entrance has been opened to us from above and now it is our turn to take a few steps to come inside. And these steps are pretty easy to make because they are ensured by unification. It’s not that every person is walking forward by himself, but he is going inwards, toward our common center where we will reveal the Creator through our mutual push toward love, empathy, and mutual bestowal.

The time really has come. I am not comparing myself to Abraham or Moses, but the states that become revealed appear the same as back then. Let us make efforts and you will see this actually happening.

We are starting to make mutual actions which bring us the revelation of the Torah, meaning the revelation of the Light which corrects the evil inclination and reveals the Creator inside of us.

I am talking about this completely seriously. Even 9 to 12 months ago this did not seem so realistic and practical to me, but now I see that we are undoubtedly capable of this. We have received the permission from above and now it all depends on us: Will we take this upon ourselves or not? Neglect would be a very grave mistake that would bring about great trouble.

I very much hope that the holiday of Passover, my visits to the groups outside of Israel, the Moscow Convention, and other events will serve as a big, good preparation. This is possible. Everything is open to us and the whole world is helping us. Everything that is happening in the world is just help to push us forward.

However, we have to be careful. In one of his letters Baal HaSulam writes the following to his student, “A year ago your state was much better, but now you are in a descent. However, don’t lose faith in mercy. Maybe you will succeed again.”

Now the time of awakening from above has come and an opportunity is being given to us. However, we have to attach the awakening from below to this. There can never be any indulgences in this regard.

Awakening from above is a very big help. That’s because you don’t have to convince the Creator that you have a good desire. He gives you the opportunity Himself, “Just ask Me and I will pay for it.” You can take the merchandise, the shopkeeper will record your debt in the book, and you will pay for it later. First enter spirituality and then you will pay it back.

That is how we advance. After all, we can’t manage without the spiritual force, but when we do have it then we can make spiritual actions and will return the debt later. Now we have the chance to receive a loan and to acquire the spiritual world. And later on we will pay for it—there’s no problem.

So let us hope that we will understand what kind of opportunity we have before us. It will be unforgivable to lose it by not uniting as we should.

This very much depends on how we use our time. The present moment is very important. And you shouldn’t look around at the external world, waiting for it to move forward today or tomorrow. That is not up to us.
From the talk at the evening meal on 4/9/11

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