The wisdom of Kabbalah is the revelation of the Creator to the creature in this world. The revelation is realized through the Torah, that is, a special method. The Torah brings a person to love, to the principle of “And you shall love your friend as yourself” so that the Creator will be revealed in a person. We realize this principle with the help of the Light that Reforms. And in order to attract the Light, it is up to us to meet certain conditions. You see the Light is found everywhere but preparation is required from our side to cause its activation.

So what is the proper preparation?

Do we build a true desire, a lack for the Light that Reforms so that it will grant us the love of friends because we have “ripened” within the group, strove to be connected, linked together? Or perhaps it is the opposite? While seeking love of friends, we need to go outside, to absorb “additional” desires, to inject “new blood” into the group, to attract new people in order to feel a response, to wake up thanks to them, and only after that we should be concerned about the Light that Reforms?

Or perhaps it is necessary to go outside of the boundaries of the group, to begin to sow that same message, that same principle of “And you shall love your friend as yourself,” to raise the significance of connection in the form of “integral education”? Behind its slogans the same things are hidden, it is said in a slightly different form in order to ease the way for people, to make it easier to resolve the false stereotypes that cause hatred and dislike.

It is up to us to clarify all of this. There are people who claim that our methods are not appropriate for the modern era and the current conditions, that we don’t have the support of anyone for carrying out this task and for turning to the general public.

There are many questions and it is up to us to understand them. It is possible that there could be unpleasant encounters with opponents who may claim that we are not acting properly. Therefore it is up to us to understand what we are doing. This clarifies the system, our relationship in regard to it and our place within it. The main thing is that it clarifies the character and function of integral education, making it possible to explain the situation to those friends who don’t agree with integral education because they don’t feel the wisdom of Kabbalah in it.

Yet in spite of it all, without wide dissemination we will not require the Creator. Without going out to the wider public, a person will not require a group and friends.

It is clear that this departure must be considered, but the main thing is to ultimately satisfy the Creator. Am I ready to connect the final point of importance, the concern for others with their everyday problems? Can I link my connection to the others and my connection to the Creator? I absorb the desires of the other so that they will prompt me to strengthen the connection to the group, to get the right intention that makes it possible to turn to the Creator, and then realize the chain of actions back towards the other.

Am I on target? Do I bring the Creator contentment? If so good, but if not, then I have not succeeded. But one way or another, specifically that same formula works here between the other, myself, and by way of the books, the teacher, the group, and the Creator. If I see that there is a strong and necessary connection, if I understand that I have no other possibility of satisfying the Creator, then I am “clean.”

But if there is another way, then show it to me and I will change my way immediately. I will agree that you have saved my life and have made it possible for me not to waste it.

Clarification like this is required from us, especially in thinking about the fact that many people around us prefer to “sit on the sidelines” in the meantime, and they don’t see anything terrible about this. In my eyes this is terrible, but they are not interested in participating in dissemination. They think that it is possible to wait, that first others will do it, and they will later. But they don’t understand that in this way they “harm” themselves in an extreme and irreversible way. Perhaps this is their only opportunity, maybe a person who hops on the train now will continue to travel but someone who doesn’t will remain “empty-handed” on the platform.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/17/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The difference between impurity (Klipa) and Divinity, is that the Klipa instead of acting and as a result of the action reaching an understanding, as it is written, “by your actions, we will know you,” it wants first of all to understand, to reach an attainment from within reason and doesn’t look for spiritual attainment. The difference is very slight, seemingly insignificant, but one must constantly fight for it. It’s exactly here that the line lies between empty philosophy, between those wise ones who research our system as if they understand something spiritual, and the spiritual way.

How is it possible to understand something and talk about it without attaining it? People can’t understand that besides the intellectual clarifications, there is spiritual attainment, a change in a person’s attributes, a different perspective in which he discovers Lights, Partzufim, worlds, and then he can speak about them.

Instead of that, a person takes the words from the wisdom of Kabbalah, the words from the Kabbalists who discovered spiritual forces of the system, and with their assistance begins to play with them as if he understands what the spiritual world is about, what is going on, and what stands behind each word. It’s like a children’s game where the child plays with a car or with a plastic tank. Children imagine that everything is really taking place, like in life, but when we look at them, we understand that it’s only a game.

It’s exactly the way people think about Kabbalah after they receive theoretical knowledge without any attainment. However, this is also good, since quickly they will discover their mistake and will come to receive the true knowledge and will want to participate.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/13, The Zohar

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”, Item 17: Thus, we are already in that measure of perfection, worthy and fitting of the Perfect Operator who made us, even in our current, second state, for this body does not defect us in any way, since it will expire and die, and is only here for the time necessary for its cancellation and acquisition of our eternal form.

As it is written, “I created the evil inclination.” It is all about the corrupt form that reveals itself within us so that we will rescind it. By doing so, we will attain the full depth of creation and will come to know the upper force, the one, the only, the unique. This is the way it works. We must be grateful for having circumstances that allow us to act in a certain way, thus ascending to the level of the Creator.

In this world, while learning something, we stay who we are, with the addition of some knowledge that is external to us. In spirituality, new things disclose themselves internally and come to us through our desires and roots.

As a result, we constantly change and are born anew every single moment. Each internal change turns us into someone else. Our new form is not connected with the prior states in any way, that is, with something that previously happened to us before a new spiritual action emerged within us.

There is nothing but a chain of causes and effects. Other than that, all our thoughts and sensations acquired at a new level completely differ from the prior step.

We must get ready for that and prepare ourselves to go through various conditions while we still are at the preparatory level. Desperation, disappointment, apathy, and indifference are replaced by enthusiasm and excitement. We go through the entire spectrum of sensations that allows us to analyze ourselves and see prior states vanishing as we transition to new levels.

At this time, the amplitude between our ascents and downfalls is not so great, nor are the various details of our perception of the world really significant. Nevertheless, our animate sensations can be opposite to the judgments we make. For example, when we fall to the very bottom, we regard this state as the ascent to a new high. The main thing is to realize from whom we are getting the descents and what does He want to achieve by sending them to us. Or it might be the opposite: Elation, like doing drugs or winning the lottery, can be regarded as a dead end that doesn’t contain even a tiny spark of the Light and draws us down to an animal state.

I evaluate the situation not by their feelings, but by their importance and the purpose. Everything depends not on the state per se, but rather on the evaluations we make.  And therefore, our prime concern is to transition from sensations to analysis of closely it is connected to our goal. We examine everything around us to how it relates to and how closely it correspondences to, and how useful it is for the goal. For example, if the descent I experienced distanced me from the goal was intended for my subsequent recovery, then I am happy.

Thus, we try to maintain a connection with the goal and measure our internal states by it. In the end, we begin striving to stay in one perfect state. Anything that runs through us helps us to analyze ourselves and thus, adhere with the state of merging.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/3/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Preparation to the Lesson

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Writings of Baal HaSulam “Introduction to the Study of Ten Sefirot“

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The Book of Zohar — Introduction

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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 3, Part 9

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Writings of Baal HaSulam “One Commandment“

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Preparation to the Lesson

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Writings of Baal HaSulam “Introduction to the Study of Ten Sefirot“

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The Book of Zohar — Introduction

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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 3, Part 9

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Writings of Baal HaSulam “One Commandment,” Lesson 5

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The Book of Zohar, Introduction, Item 210: However, if ZON are connected below, the Sitra Achra can receive the abundance, hence AVI are separated above and their Zivug is stopped.

All the discernments inherent in Malchut of Ein Sof (Infinity) are included in our vessels. In our work, we have to impose restrictions on which vessels we use and which we do not. It’s impossible to get rid of something inside me, to cut off something from inside me, but I decide upon what to give importance in my contact with the Creator, with bestowal. In order to reveal Him, I have to constantly clarify where I restrict myself and where I already work with the Masachim (screens).

When ZON illuminates, it’s a dangerous state since it’s an example of how two attributes can be connected even though they are opposite by nature. On the whole, the connection of ZON during the descent can provide the Sitra Achra with the powers to connect. So Zeir Anpin and Nukva mustn’t connect below. The connection is possible only if they rise to the upper.

The corrections are always performed in the upper: We are incorporated in it and it gives us the right pattern. I can behave correctly in a perfect flawless manner if I find myself in a place with all the necessary conditions to do so. For example, I may come to a party where men and women sit on opposite sides of a table and do not mix when communicating.

This immediately leads me to a certain pattern, to a certain framework, leaving no room for confusion: I participate in the business conversations and am not distracted and drawn to different problematic directions. The place itself actually molds the right pattern for me and guards me.

With regard to ZON, its lower vessels are the whole impurity (Klipa). So there cannot be specific accurate measurements in them below that enable the connection when they descend. The connection can only be above, when they are in the Partzuf of the parents, in AVI.

So how did ZON descend to the souls in order to bestow the Lights upon them? ZON really descends and bestows in order to raise the souls back up with it. There are never any corrections below where the flawed vessel is. This is the law: All the corrections are only during the ascent.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/17/13, Introduction to The Book of Zohar

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Question: What are “practical commandments?”

Answer: Practical commandments are corrections that we are capable of making today. The entire Torah and commandments are corrective actions that are made with the help of the Light.

As it is written, “I have created the evil inclination, I have created the Torah as a spice.” The evil inclination is the “material,” the egoistic desire. The “Torah” is the power of its correction. A man, me, should be positioned between them.

It is I who organizes a liaison between the Torah and the evil inclination. As it is written, “Whoever attains the Light hidden in the Torah can see with it from one end of the world to the other.” I am the one who defines egoism as evil and the Torah as a spice. My main duty is to initiate the impact of the spice to correct the evil inclination, so I build the whole system, and by doing so, transition from an evil inclination to a good one, which means that I am following the commandments.

There are practical commandments that are possible to follow right away, and there are commandments that are not available to us as of yet. In general, it’s about the methodology of the fulfillment of the commandments (corrective actions) with the help of the Torah (the Light).

“Commandment” is a transition from evil to good, from receiving to bestowal, from egoistic intention to altruistic in each given desire. It is done by the Light. Accordingly, before anything else, I must identify evil with the help of the Light of the Torah. Then, I will be able to make a request that will lead me to a good inclination.

I cope with all stages of this path due to the Light. “Love thy neighbor as thyself” is the general, great rule of the Torah, the corrected form. The corrupt form (the evil inclination) signifies hatred toward our neighbors. Therefore, the Torah is not a scroll of parchment that is kept in a special bookcase but the Light that Reforms.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/12/12, The Zohar

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Preparation to the Lesson

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[media 2]

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Introduction to the Study of Ten Sefirot“

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[media 4]

The Book of Zohar — Introduction

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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 3, Part 9

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Writings of Baal HaSulam “One Commandment,” Lesson 4 

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Preparation to the Lesson

[media 1]

[media 2]

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Introduction to the Study of Ten Sefirot“

[media 3]

[media 4]

The Book of Zohar — Introduction

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[media 6]

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 3, Part 9

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[media 8]

Writings of Baal HaSulam “One Commandment”

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Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - No Comments →

Preparation to the Lesson

[media 1]

[media 2]

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Introduction to the Study of Ten Sefirot“

[media 3]

[media 4]

The Book of Zohar — Introduction

[media 5]

[media 6]

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 3, Part 9

[media 7]

[media 8]

Writings of Baal HaSulam “One Commandment”

[media 9]

[media 10]

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - No Comments →