Our advancement in the last 2,000 years of exile was of a different character. The nation of Israel gradually lost the spiritual level of Galgalta ve Eynaim (GE) that they had, became more and more mixed with the “nations of the world,” and descended to the corporeal level. In Kabbalah this process is called the “descent of generations.” We talk about descending along the steps of our world from the state in which there is still a certain illumination from spirituality, until the very bottom where it is dark.

These are the laws of nature: Everything depends on the relation between the upper Light and the Reshimot (spiritual genes) below. Today when the descent has ended and the ascension is before us, we then determine these relations when we change the coefficient in the set formula; in other words, when we insert the connecting link, the measure of the equivalence of form, between the Reshimot and the Light.

During exile, we could not do this; thus everything happened in its time. It is not by chance that the Kabbalists knew and wrote about the time when this period would need to end. The Reshimot descended lower and lower, deeper and deeper within the egoistic desire, and it became “coarser” to the extent of “burdening of the heart”.

However, today the descent is over, and we see that according to the surrounding world: All the areas of life are on the brink of bankruptcy. Family, education, culture, finance, business, and even religion‑everything today is penetrated with unrestrained and acute egoism.

Thus, we went through 2,000 years of very hard work. The world advanced and Israel descended from its spiritual degree, and here, when the world is collapsing under the blows of the crisis, they stand “face to face.” The correct connection, the correct combination between the “nations of the world” and Israel has been created. And now it is possible to begin the ascent. The present state is desirable and highly productive.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/14/13, Writings of Rabash 

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The one problem in every state is that in this world we cannot connect two opposites into one. Modern quantum physics also deals with the fact that light is both a wave and particle. Although a wave and a particle are not perfect opposites, physicists cannot understand how they can be integrated into one phenomenon. They cannot see a phenomenon yet in which two total opposites connect simultaneously, as it happens in the spiritual world, but they already see the beginning of this phenomenon.

A person who studies Kabbalah faces a similar problem, not on the level of the still nature, not like in physics, but rather on the level of thoughts, intentions, and feelings—on the fourth level compared to the first level of the still nature. The first levels are the still nature, the vegetative, and the animate, and only afterward is there the human level that determines what’s in a person’s mind and heart, the feelings thoughts, the power and the insight.

This dualism brings about many problems. On one hand, I have to see the truth and I see it through my own eyes—this whole corporeal world is corrupt, it is in a crisis, and I am also in a crisis. On the other hand, if I correct myself, I will have nothing else to correct and then I will have nothing to do, since the whole world will seem corrected and it will indeed be so. I will see it this way since “one judges according to one’s own flaws.”

In the meantime there is no dualism in that, the dualism is in the fact that on one hand I have to bestow upon the whole world and to worry that I will be able to bestow upon everyone. On the other hand, I have to understand that I am doing all this for myself and that this world doesn’t need that. All the corruptions that I see in it only show me where I have to work, and they were made especially for me.

There is the same contradiction here as in the story of Abraham who was told that he had to sacrifice his son Isaac, but that through him he will multiply—these are two contradictory things. This is how we should see our path: On one hand we worry about correcting everything in the external world, on the other hand, there is nothing to worry about, since all of reality is already in a state of absolute rest and is corrected.

A person should be grateful to the Creator for the one moment in his life in which he was awarded some contact with the upper force. The question is how we can understand that. But if a person was in contact with the Creator for even one moment, it isn’t just any moment. After all, he could penetrate that moment and enter the upper world through it, the eternal world in which there is no time and so every moment is an eternity.

So if a person can really be grateful for that one moment, he is already at the end of correction or has at least corrected his current level.

This is the reason that it is hard for us to be in spiritual states and to accept them, and this is on purpose by the way. All our work is “above reason;” we have to accept the spiritual conditions as “an ox to the burden and a donkey to the load.” And although we don’t understand them, a “habit becomes a second nature,” the Light will gradually influence us and build new desires in us. Thus we will reach a state in which all the opposites will connect into one. Then through them, we will be able to enter the spiritual world.

On the one hand, our ego increasingly separates us from others, since “he who is greater than his friend, his desire is even greater.” The distance between the desires remains, but we work on it so that by the intentions we will connect into one whole. It turns out that everyone is infinitely separated from the others, but in our intentions, we are in one common point and the Creator is in it.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/14/13

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In the process of the spiritual work we begin criticizing our friends. We should stop doing it immediately and acknowledge that the Creator does it to us on purpose. He hardens our hearts and sets up bad situations so that we get desperate and appeal to Him for assistance and request our friends’ help, thus enhancing our liaisons and the intention to unite with each other.

Therefore, we must be prepared for the permanent shutdown of connection with others and constantly remember this because we will come across thousands of distractions on our way. We should keep in mind that it is the Creator who disrupts us acting via other people.

We should always stay tuned to “There Is None Else Besides Him.” At the same time, we should continue working according to our own system. We must realize that we work against the Creator and that it is He who permanently leads us. Likewise, we put a little child on the floor in order to teach him to walk. He cries because he is afraid to make the first step, but we continue pushing him ahead. Thus, he eventually learns to walk.

In order to reveal the Creator’s property of bestowal, we need to have a natural intention to connect with others. If we rebel against it, we should acknowledge that this sensation comes exclusively from Him and that He wants us to apply more effort. The more exertions to advance that we make, the more obstacles on our way He creates. He hardens our hearts and sets up hindrances.

So, when we look at our friends and see lots of negativity, we must understand that it is He who draws this picture for us. He does it on purpose so that we rise above our sensations and begin to justify, love, and appreciate our friends, irrespective of our negative thoughts and ideas. We always should keep it in mind!

The same applies to the group. When we think of the group in a scornful manner, “Why do I need them,” it means that it is time to remind ourselves that it is the Creator who commands us.
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From the Virtual Lesson 12/23/12

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Duality makes our work very difficult. I tried to explain yesterday at the “One Global Women” convention that on one hand, women need to prepare a collective, huge desire to pass it to the men for their work. They must be sure that their desire rules the world, controls the men, and starts the process of correction.

But on the other hand, in order to do it with the right attitude aimed at bestowal, they also need to know that at the moment they reach the correct desire, they will feel in it that everything is corrected and the men are complete righteous, not needing any correction.

It was difficult to explain these two seemingly incompatible opposites, but I still tried to make them clear and to bring this idea to the workshop.

Baal HaSulam writes in his letter (No.41): “Spiritual attainment is based on two opposite forms that are immediately revealed in man: one is from the part of the body and one is from the part of the soul,” that is, the desire to receive and the desire to bestow. The desire to receive is called the body, and the desire to bestow—the soul, and that is why a person experiences this dichotomy.

“Due to his nature, a man is not able to simultaneously analyze the body and soul as two parallel concepts and tries to tie them together in one concept. And therefore, it is difficult for him to attain spirituality as two opposites that cannot be combined into one object.”

Indeed, we sometimes feel that we are just torn apart and do not know what to do with ourselves. The heart contradicts the mind, and the mind does not agree with the heart; such conflicting thoughts and feelings are overcoming him that it is impossible to tie them together into any stable picture.

“It is like the story of Abraham, who was told that all his offspring will come of Isaac, but now the Creator ordered him to sacrifice him. And of course, nothing is changed in reality on the side of the Creator, and these contradictions are formed only on the side of the receiver. And that is why Abraham rejoiced …”

All our sufferings stem from the feeling of two opposite things that we cannot combine. The basis of any discomfort is an insoluble contradiction between two incompatible opposites. And you have to accept them in this conflicting form and be glad that we can rise above them and continue until they merge. In fact, this is the entire correction.

Indeed, one may ask: what do you need to correct? “Existence from existence” (Yesh Mi Yesh) and “existence from absence” (Yesh Mi Ain—to be able to glue them together: the Creator and the creature. This is the basis of correction, of all our work. That is why this work consists of little by little, by tiny portions, gradually getting used to accepting, understanding, feeling, and being glad that we carry out this work to connect two opposites.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/14/13

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Question: Why do we connect during the convention? Is it in order to prepare a vessel for the revelation of the attribute of bestowal or only in order to support the men?

Answer: First, there is no separate male vessel and female vessel. Malchut of the world of Atzilut includes all the souls in it and if the men and women don’t connect in it, we don’t evoke Zeir Anpin and Malchut to connect in order to draw the Light from Above to correct us.

Today, we, the men and the women, which means the shattered souls, have to raise MAN (a request for correction) to Malchut of the world of Atzilut. It should be incorporated of the collective desire of the men and the women and in contact with its upper, Zeir Anpin (ZA). Then they activate an even upper couple called “father and mother.”

Thus, there are three couples operating here, which are similar stages of development or regression. By our “initiative” we evoke the second couple, and it evokes the third couple, and the fourth couple already belongs to Arich Anpin, to Ein Sof (Infinity).

This means that we have to stabilize ourselves correctly with regard to the spiritual levels Kabbalists tell us about. There are two “halves” here, male and female that perform a spiritual action, totally complementing one another in order to bestow. If we operate in the exact same way, we will be adapted to the upper and then we will discover ourselves in ascent towards Him.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/13/13, Shamati #7

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In the News (from National Science Foundation): “Drug resistant bacteria are a problem in many environments, especially healthcare institutions. While the ways in which these cells become resistant are understood at the cellular level, until now, the bacteria’s survival strategies at the population level remained unclear.

“A new study by James Collins and colleagues at Boston University and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University reveals that a surprisingly small percentage of bacteria actually become highly resistant ‘supermutants.’ In fact, most of the bacteria in their study survived without being resistant to the effective dose of antibiotics in the environment. That is, the individual types of bacteria were not as resistant to the antibiotics as the entire population was. …

“Further experiments revealed that, in addition to being drug resistant, the rare supermutants produced high levels of indole, a signaling molecule produced by healthy bacteria. Indole can also promote survival in harsh environments. When bacteria experience antibiotic stress, the dead and dying cells stop producing indole, which likely contributes to further cell death. By overproducing the chemical, supermutants can protect the more vulnerable bacteria by making enough to support a larger population of cells.

“However, this indole production is costly for the supermutants, who grow more slowly than mutants that do not produce it. ‘This altruistic behavior supports a growing body of evidence that suggests single-celled organisms act as communities. We think study of these population-level behaviors will provide important new understanding of evolution dynamics,’ Collins explained.

“These results confirm observations made by health practitioners everywhere: treatment of drug-resistant bacterial infections is more complicated and challenging than anyone thought. According to Collins, ‘Bacterial communities have an extensive arsenal of techniques to deal with antibiotic assault. By understanding the various strategies they use to survive, we may be able to develop more effective medical treatments.’”

My Comment: Nothing will help people against diseases; they are all the result of our separation. Until we start acting as bacteria, together, we will not overcome them. And it is so in our world with everything. Unity at every level is the trend of development of all the parts of nature, and if we do not agree with it, we lose in all the areas of our lives. Antibiotics will not help! To help our health, we need to become more united than bacteria. After all, any manifestation of evil is intended to help us rise above ourselves.
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When we move toward correcting ourselves, all our intentions must be oriented to unity, and none of them can be of a personal nature. Our points in the heart are the only personal thing we have. What can this point in the heart worry about except reaching unity with the rest of our collective body from which it will eventually receive spirituality?

That’s why our attempts to join our collective body reveal to us its various forms and characteristics that we read about in the Torah: Pharaoh, an angel, Moshe, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and many others. Who are they? They are the images that all of humankind, the group, and the world acquire to the degree of their attainment.

The picture described in the Torah is a form of the general soul that constantly changes and reveals itself in a new shape. However, it discloses only on condition that we continually aspire to unity. The Book of Zohar speaks about it. Each word and every line of The Book of Zohar represent an in-depth, gradual revelation that goes on until it fully discloses itself to “the eyes of all of Israel.” It’s not an accident that these words are the final phrase of the Torah.

We only reveal spiritual forms when we are connected.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/1/13, The Zohar

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From convention to convention we are heading towards unity with sharp acceleration, and new friends who join us catch information on the fly because it has already been stored, exists in the network, and as soon as they connect to us, it immediately enters them in a natural way.

Just like the children who are born now easily and naturally accept electronic toys, while we had to learn, invent them, and adapt to them, our new friends seem to be pre-adapted to receiving spiritual information.

One can be envious of how quickly newcomers become up to date, and after six months they know what took us ten years to learn. But, as it is said, one is never envious of his son and disciple.
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From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/9/12, Lesson 5

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Question: How can we explain to people that there is actually only one soul of Adam HaRishon (first man)?

Answer: There is a desire to receive and it is full of Light. This state is called Ein Sof (Infinity). There are no bounds, no limits; no matter what size the desire is, the Light fills it to the fullest. This is why in spirituality everything is measured not by qualitative parameters but by qualitative ones. If there is “one gram” of desire, there is “one gram” of pleasure to match it, and this is already Ein Sof, no limits—the Light and the desire are equal.

At the same time, when the desire to receive gets to know itself more deeply, it discovers in it a greater qualitative intensity until it reaches the central circle called the soul of Adam HaRishon. Inside my desire to receive, in my Malchut, I attain where I came from and for what reason. Then I really want to unite with the Light, and to receive the soul of Adam HaRishon.

Baal HaSulam brings the example of the guest who tells the host he wants to be like him.

– Well, says the host, I will do that for you.

Then the guest eliminates the Light, but, in fact, he acts against the host and begins to draw away from him in search for a state in which he can prove to himself and to the host that he can be like him in order to show the host his true bestowal.

In the same way, Adam HaRishon wanted to taste from the “tree of knowledge” using every means possible, which means to receive the Light in his vessels of receiving with the intention to bestow. This was the “sin of the tree of knowledge,” which is similar to the “shattering of the vessels” in the world of Nekudim, but in a more revealed manner. There are already details here like: “snake,” “Eve,” “the Garden of Eden,” and “Hell,” which means there are whole parts of the desire to receive whose essence and goal you already understand. Thus you penetrate into the depth of the desire that was created by the Creator. It becomes more detailed, more clear, more ripe, just like a fruit that ripens on a tree.

This fruit promises wonderful flavors and evokes great passion in you. The first taste was really in order to bestow: Adam and Eve received the whole Light of Ein Sof, but they didn’t have a whole desire yet with Reshimot (spiritual genes) aimed at this pleasure. But later, when the new Reshimot, the new tastes, penetrate the desire, it cannot relinquish the egoistic intention in the second attempt, or more accurately, it couldn’t avoid being tempted. After all, there are no “restrictive circumstances,” in spirituality. There everything is solved within the desire, and if I want to steal, I steal.

Now we have to correct these desires, the vessels. When we correct them, we return to the corrected soul of Adam HaRishon.

Why is it one for everyone? It is because everyone attains unity with everyone else. After all, the correction is actually the connection with everyone, thanks to which I attain the united vessel and in it receive the only Light of the soul. You cannot correct yourself separately and let them remain “evil.” There is no such thing. I will not correct myself if I don’t connect with everyone and correct everyone.

This is why eventually I come to a state in which everyone is corrected, and then I am called a “complete righteous,” which means that I justify and judge myself and the world to the scale of merit.

Imagine that someone next to you, speaking from his pure heart, says that the whole world is good and the Creator is good and benevolent and that there simply can be no evil. You look at him and you don’t understand where he is coming from: “Perhaps we should call an ambulance? Doesn’t he see what is happening in the world?” You don’t understand him, but he understands you; since he has already climbed the ladder of the spiritual attainment, he attains the whole soul of Adam HaRishon and sees everyone in Ein Sof. Although you feel our cruel world in your corrupt vessels, you are actually there too.

What should we do in order to feel this? Just one thing—correct ourselves. The world doesn’t change, you change, and then you see it differently. It is only your inner personal perception. Today you are looking at everything through the prism of your flaws so you don’t see the actual reality, but you see yourself the way you are today…
[97730]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/8/13, “600,000 Souls”

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Question: How do the gradual changes happen that eventually lead us to a state where my neighbor becomes more important to me than I am to myself? What do I feel at each stage?

Answer: This kind of change happens in a person only with the help of the Reforming Light. Roughly, it can be divided into four stages:

1. We don’t sense anybody outside us; they seem so “lifeless” to us. They live some place near us, but we have nothing in common with them. We communicate with them, hug them, sing songs with them, but we still regard them as “puppets” that exist next to us.

2. Later, to the extent of the level of the affliction we go through, which is triggered by our concern that we are not advancing well enough, we start worrying: “What will happen to me?” At this time, we continue suffering and applying efforts, but we still don’t understand the ways to connect with others. This doesn’t “penetrate” our ears; they are only beautiful words, I have heard a lot of times…

The reality, the learning process, and everything we do become more and more important to us; although, our concerns about the relationships with our friends are still not quite clear to us. We don’t yet feel that our connection leads us anywhere. It seems to us to be just a sort of “morality” and even reminds us of the religious commandments.

3. Then, we begin neglecting everything that our friends do in the group: connections, dancing, singing. We are not capable of behaving this way. In our eyes, it seems very frivolous; we agree to act this way only because it creates a good and pleasant atmosphere and we know that we have to inspire our friends and stay together. So, we meet at joint meals in order to connect a little and maybe even attract new people to us. This is what we think.

4. At this point, we acknowledge that no matter what we do, it doesn’t work for us. We start noticing that at this time other people look much smarter in our eyes. We start thinking: “How do they do that?” We begin to re-evaluate our attitude and come to a conclusion that the unity is important.

No doubt, it is the result of the Light’s impact rather than a consequence of the mutual activities among friends. Although, since we still continue to participate in joint activities, the Surrounding Light descends to us. We start considering our activities oriented towards unity as useful, but still think that they are purely theoretical. We keep talking about them and continue reading and listening about group work more intently than before; previously we didn’t even pay any attention to the articles that describe these things. We thought that “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” “The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” etc. were worth reading, but the article “The Last Generation” reminded us of communist ideas.

Gradually, under the influence of the Surrounding Light, we start realizing that we have to work against our egos and overcome them. Then, we notice that overcoming our egoism and connecting with our friends are actually the same things; it’s impossible to achieve it differently. It’s feasible only while being in the group and exclusively through connecting with the friends.

Before, we never valued external actions and neglected them to the extent that we wished they would never exist. “Why do we have to unite with others? “Love thy friend sounds repulsive…Have you ever seen it happening? What are you talking about? I am embarrassed that Kabbalah books talk about things like that…”

All of a sudden, we notice that the internal content of our actions is totally oriented towards unity, the merger of our internal particles, rather than corporeal bodies. We keep neglecting our physical connections. If it doesn’t lead us to joining the points in the heart, we continue to despise the “tricks” and “slogans” like: “Let’s unite! Let’s sit together at meals and talk!”

We start changing our attitude to unity. All of a sudden we realize that it’s about connecting “the points in the hearts” with the help of the Reforming Light. That’s why we have to stay in the group. It’s different from spending time in the bar where people hug each other, sing, and feel good. Here, we also sit together, we can have a drink and hug although our intention is not to unite our bodies or some earthly egoistic ideals, but rather to try to bring our points in the heart closer and to ask the Light to impact us and connect them together. The Light influences us sufficiently to the degree of our mutual efforts and to the extent of our desire to unite.

This is the way we advance. Going through these stages is essential. As a result, we become confident that our presence in the group and the group activities are necessary to connect the points in the heart with the help of the Light. From this point on, we stop neglecting unity. We already know that spiritual realization is all about unity and our further advancement becomes more obvious to us. At the same time, we discover a new difficulty on our way: We have to figure out the way to detach our “self” from the point that we contribute to unity; we have to be concerned about giving “externality” more weight than to our own “self.” For that, we also need the Light. However, it’s the next stage and it also consists of four sub-phases.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/13, The Zohar

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