The Zohar, Chapter “Shemot (Exodus),” Item 250: And when the Creator saw the great joy of this world when it improved to being as above, He said, “Let not the twelve tribes mingle with the rest of the nations, leaving a blemish in all the worlds.” What did the Creator do? He shook all of them to and fro until they went down to Egypt to dwell in their abodes inside the obstinate nation, which despises their conducts and degrades them by not marrying with them or mingling with them, and by considering them slaves. The males were loathsome of them and the females were loathsome of them until everything was bettered by the holy seed without mingling with strangers….

There is a scrutiny of one’s state as one attempts to rid oneself of egoism, and then there’s a scrutiny of one’s state when one wishes to remain in (adapt to) his egoism. If I wish to remain in my egoism, then the egoism pushes me out through its hatred for me as it senses within me the point in the heart that is opposite to it. As it is written: “The Pharaoh brought the nation of Israel closer [via pointed oppression] to Israel,” and “I have created the ego as help against you.” It opposes you, and precisely therein is its help.

Similarly, when the Soviet government pushed a hard anti-Zionist agenda in the 1960s-70s, in so doing, it actually boosted Zionism. It is precisely the evil forces (the reverse side of the Creator) that help elucidate the evil, and not the Creator or the Upper Light, openly or directly.

Exile is one’s interim state between the degrees when both the Egyptians and Israel are revealed within him, opposite one another. He is in the middle scrutinizing these qualities. He is an exile, under the Egyptians’ command. On the one hand, he is drawn to Egyptians, but they reject him over the “seed of Israel” that is within him.

In other words, the desire to enjoy despises and rejects the intention to bestow for it wants only to act for the sake of reception. This is the hatred of the nations of the world toward Israel. And then there is the opposite discernment, when one has already advanced to the desire to bestow and identifies himself with it, as he nears the exodus from Egypt and is unwilling to mingle with the Egyptians (the nations of the world).

The Egyptians’ rule over him has ended; he no longer strives to be like them, no longer does he wish to unite with them, although he still lives among them, for now. In his eyes the Pharaoh receives blows, and these blows help him to rise above his relationship with the Pharaoh. Then he distances from the Egyptians, not because they spurn him, but because he is the one rejecting them as he nears the exodus from Egypt.

The Creator conducts these scrutinies in everybody (every person in this world) from both sides, in order to help us understand to which we are drawn more: egoism or bestowal. The nations of the world feel hatred for the spark of bestowal that has remained in the nation of Israel from its previous spiritual level. They reject Israel, which is precisely the reason the nation of Israel has remained intact.

Israel did not somehow manage to survive on its own; but rather, it is the opposition to Israel that held it together. As Baal HaSulam writes, Israel exists like nuts in a bag, united not by love, but forcefully, by the external hatred that surrounds them.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: There is one’s personal intention and intention of the group. What should be the group’s intention during the Zohar study?

My Answer: It should be the same. The group’s intention cannot be different. A group is a sum total of the individuals in the group; it only amplifies everybody’s individual intention.

I have to connect with others because my intention does not carry enough power to attract the Light that Reforms. This Light reveals to me everything that I read in The Zohar. If my friends passed me their intentions, and their intentions united within me, I would immediately reveal the inner essence of a story that I read in The Zohar. It would happen instantly.

The problem is that they don’t wish to supply me with their intentions in the same way that I’m unable to pass them mine. Perhaps I’m talking about it, but it does not really bother me that much.

Herein lies the essence of unification. In uniting with others, I receive their intentions. Alone, I cannot reveal anything. It is the intentions that we receive from each other, nothing else. It is only through the web of intentions that I can connect with the other person, and this connection occurs only when I’m ready to supply others with life energy so that they all live in spirituality.

By thinking in this manner, I pass my intention to everybody. I unite with the others in a network of a living organism and then it becomes alive. I enliven it. Then each of my friends possesses a life force since each of them has an opportunity to pass the Light further.

The force of life or the Light exists among us. We can reveal it only according to our intention, our attitude toward each other.

It can be likened to an electromagnetic field. The field can’t be identified without an electric circuit with its conductors which allows the electric current to flow in the network, to move and perform work in the magnetic field. A metal conductor moving in the magnetic field passes electric current; free electrons are moving in it. These are exactly the same processes.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: What is the logic in “faith above reason?”

My Answer: “Faith above reason” has the logic of the Upper One. The logic of the lower one is when I see the world through my mind and feelings. This is how I live. I progress across a flat plane, only on my level, and can never rise higher. This is called “faith below reason,” or “faith like reason.” Faith does not determine my actions; faith, which is the property of bestowal is not above reason.

In “faith above reason,” it is as though I take off my glasses and don’t see anything except the Upper One. I am ready to join the Upper One in whatever He desires. I want to acquire His sensation and knowledge by the force of adhesion with Him. With this action I am willing to completely cancel myself, to part with my “settings.”

When I acquire His degree, I get His faith (His property of bestowal) and knowledge that are higher than mine. Through the force of greater bestowal I also acquire higher knowledge. This is called “faith above previous reason.” In this manner I attain a higher degree.

Therefore, those who proceed by “faith above reason,” actually add knowledge since they have new vessels of perception. It is because knowledge, attainment, the Light of Hochma, spreads only in the Light of Hassadim (bestowal, faith).

Whereas those who cannot rise above their reason in the animal mind, hold onto their current state, not wishing anything greater; they cannot cancel their opinion before a higher degree, before a teacher. Thus they will not attain anything, and remain “animals.” They will be “smart and reasonable” within the bounds of their minds, but they won’t even realize that there exists a higher wisdom. After all, a higher wisdom always seems to lack any current foundation.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/14/10, The Zohar

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Preparation to the Lesson, Shamati #46 “The Domination of Israel Over the Klipot”
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Shemot (Exodus),” Item 295
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Beit Shaar HaKavanot, Item 81, Lesson 29
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The Zohar, Chapter “Shemot (Exodus),” Item 249: The world was created in ten utterances. But when you look, they are only three that the world was created in: Hochma, Tevuna, and Daat. And the world was created only for Israel. When the Creator wished to sustain the world, He acted for Abraham in Hochma, for Isaac in Tevuna, and for Jacob in Daat. This is considered, “And by knowledge are the chambers filled….”

There is a force above that reveals for us the entire reality, which descends from HBD (Hochma, Bina, Daat) along three lines. This is how the Creator influences us from above.

And we, in turn, must take on an identical form below. Then we will understand the nature of this influence and how we can sense it, how to become similar to and merge with Him.

From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/10, The Zohar

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The Zohar tells us about the connection among souls. From the Creator’s perspective, all the souls form a single system in the World of Infinity, where infinite Light fills everyone. This can be likened to a perfect, healthy organism, all the parts of which exist in harmony and proper interaction. On the other hand, The Zohar describes this system in respect to its parts called souls or people.

There are some who feel the souls and the connection among them. There are also others who do no feel it and perceive this system in its external form. They see it as consisting of our corporeal, animal bodies of this world that are somehow connected with each other.

The whole Torah describes only the types of the connection between us. The question is only how a person perceives it. We either feel the connection in the external form, as this constantly changing world that is moving toward some goal. Or we permeate within and, using this world as the basis, begin to feel the connection between us in the souls. Then we feel these two forms simultaneously.

The concepts of “world,” “year,” “soul,” and “procurement of reality” are forms of connection among us both on the material and the spiritual levels. All the concepts that exist in our world can be found in spirituality as well. However, in the latter they point to the form, the force, or the type of connection among us. This is precisely what we need to achieve.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/16/10, The Zohar

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Preparation to the Lesson, Shamati #225 “Raising Oneself”
The imaginative line between the inner and the external allows me to develop. I include the outer details into my inner picture which will ultimately become one whole.
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Shemot (Exodus),” Item 259
My fate depends upon my intention during the studies. I can never develop the correct intention on my own.
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Beit Shaar HaKavanot, Item 80, Lesson 28
The breaking is my disconnection with others. Then I realize that I can’t connect with them and ask for help.
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“Head”- these are thoughts which are brought on by the dissatisfied desires of the “body”.
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Our actions in the science of Kabbalah are similar to those of scientists. We are discovering a new world; we are correcting ourselves, and in the process of making these corrections we learn and continually evolve alongside the corrections and within them.

That is why nobody can know his future degree until he attains it. A person does not advance along a clear, open path. Nothing is revealed! Whatever a person reaches was always concealed and unintelligible until the last moment. This is how we advance.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/16/10, The Zohar

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Before we begin reading The Zohar, we need to prepare ourselves with an internal feeling that we are within the group. We will then be similar to that same group of the Kabbalists who wrote The Zohar and will have an easier time understanding what they convey to us.

Understanding comes as a result of the Light’s influence. The Light acts upon us from within the connection between the souls of ten Kabbalists who together existed in the final corrected state, meaning in the final corrected connection between one another. When they corrected the connection between them to such a degree that nobody had a single uncorrected desire to receive pleasure, then between themselves they revealed the Upper Light called “Zohar,” the Light originating from the Rosh (head) of Arich Anpin, which is the Light of Infinity.

Hence, if we try to reach the same relation between us as the authors of The Zohar had, we will attract the Light from the same state which they attained. This Light can also create the connection between us as it is said, “One who makes peace in the Upper One, makes peace in us.” This is precisely what we should expect from reading The Zohar.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/16/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: Why was it necessary to go through the destruction of two Temples in order to come to the process of correction?

My Answer: The corrected spiritual vessel must “receive for the sake of bestowal.” However, it is first necessary to correct the intention, to bestow, and then “receive for the sake of bestowal.” That’s why the destruction of the perfect state of “the World of Infinity” that originated from the Creator occurred ireceiving for the sake of bestowal,n two stages: from “receiving for the sake of bestowal,” to “bestowal for the sake of bestowal.”

The destruction of the First Temple led to the loss of the Light of Haya. Then from the state of “bestowal for the sake of bestowal” it transitioned to the level of “receiving for one’s own sake” (impure desires, Klipot), meaning the destruction of the Second Temple, which resulted in loss of the Light of Neshama. This is how we transpired in this world. Resurrection of the Temple gives us an opportunity for spiritual work. Since we do it on our own, we in fact reveal ourselves in the perfect Light of Yechida.

The same process applies to the construction of the earthly physical Temple. As with the prior Temples, first we must attain these spiritual stages within ourselves, and then begin to build the “external” Temple.

The question remains as to whether we must build the Temple in the realms of this material world. As it is said, as soon as our world attains the ultimate complete correction, then this imaginary world (Olam ha Medume) disappears from our imagination, and we begin to perceive only the spiritual world within our corrected properties.

Nevertheless, even if the Third Temple is to be constructed of stone it would be erected only after we build it in our heart, as it was with the First and the Second Temples. Therefore, we must focus all our attention only on the correction of our heart.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/15/10, The Zohar

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