With Mind and Emotions

235Question: It is said that we can merge with the Creator emotionally and attach ourselves to Him with our hearts. But we have the Torah and studying with our minds. What is the advantage of studying with the mind?

Answer: Some people strive to understand the Creator intellectually and technically. And some wish to understand Him emotionally within themselves. It all depends on the person.

We approach the Creator both with our minds and feelings. Often we attain Him more intellectually, and then there are periods when it happens more through emotions, and in this way we gradually move toward Him.

It is like walking on two legs: right-left, right-left, taking steps like that. The same applies here. Sometimes you may feel Him through your intellect, and other times through emotions. We need to progress in both ways.

Question: How can we properly balance the preferences of some for emotional study and others for knowledge-based study in the group? How do we avoid misunderstandings on this basis?

Answer: Gradually, you will start understanding each other because you are required to unite in all your inner qualities. For instance, one person might currently perceive everything through reason, while another through the heart, and then it may switch. You will have to manage this.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/13/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Torah and the Creator Are One”

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The Importance of Bestowal

509Question: To raise the importance of participating in lessons and meetings, which is preferable: to scrutinize this issue or to create a warm, kind atmosphere and wait for the Creator to raise the importance?

Answer: Both are needed.

But most important is the importance of friends, the importance of the Creator, the importance of the path, and the importance of the ascents so we can move forward all the time.

Question: How can we build a large Kli of bestowal so that the Creator notices it and fills it if, from lesson to lesson, we see the importance of many other things not related to bestowal?

Answer: You should pay special attention to bestowal and strive for it because only in this quality will you feel the Creator, not in anything else.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/14/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Whose Heart Makes Him Willing”

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Appeal to the Ten

524.01Question: How important is the Hisaron (the need) of the lower one in the ten? How important is his appeal to the friends to correct material suffering?

Answer: Any one of the friends turning to the ten is very inspiring and shakes everyone up. Then  everyone tries to respond with the proper answer.

That is very important. Without the Hisaron of the lower one you cannot correct material suffering.

Question: If we fail to correct something in the spiritual, it immediately passes into the material plane. Given the material problem, how can we learn what we must correct in the spiritual?

Answer: You cannot figure it out, at least not in your state. But what you can do is make every effort to combine all your actions and all your thoughts.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/12/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “And the Saboteur Was Sitting”

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 4/3/24

Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, “What Is the Blessing, ‘Who Made a Miracle for Me in This Place,’ in the Work?”

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar“

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3rd part of the Lesson — Writings of ARI, “Gate of Intentions – for Pesach”

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Audio Version Of The Blog – 4/2/24

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Purim on the Calendar and in the Heart

215The holiday of Purim is approaching, symbolizing concealment, the custom of dressing up in carnival costumes and wearing masks. Where does the tradition of wearing masks on Purim come from?

The main character of Purim is Queen Esther, who represents the kingdom (Malchut), the system that governs the entire universe. This kingdom is called “Esther,” which means “concealment.”

In fact, in our time we see that everything is concealed. We do not know who governs us and we are unaware that there is a program in nature that controls our lives. We exist in a realm where some upper force controls everything, which manifests as various forces like a vast network that oversees the entire world.

Science is only now beginning to uncover that everything in nature is interconnected, and the world is an integrated system with global connections. We only perceive a small part of reality. We are not talking about some unknown dark energy in the universe, but about a reality completely concealed from us, which we do not even guess about. Our entire world is a complete concealment.

Inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature is governed by instincts and therefore does not ask questions. But humans must understand why they live. If they cannot find an answer to this question, they feel greatly limited, disappointed with life, and unsure of what to do with themselves. The animalistic body continues its normal life and gives birth to offspring, but a person feels unhappy.

Humans feel there is concealment—a system, Malchut—secretly controlling them, like a vast “Queen Esther.” Esther does not appear in the image of a woman, but of the entire kingdom that governs us so that we do not understand where we are going and what we are doing.

Many times throughout history, the Jewish people have faced “Purim” situations, which means a threat of annihilation. This threat arises to awaken us and to remind us of our purpose and to not continue living like the other “127 nations” mentioned in the Scroll of Esther.

We must reveal Esther and compel concealment to unveil. All other nations within which we live act to awaken us to this mission. After all, good cannot awaken a people or their egoistic desire and make them think about spiritual life.

Jews try to forget their mission and bury themselves in corporeal values where they strive for achievements in science, culture, and especially where there is money and power.

To awaken us, King Ahasuerus and his aide Haman appear. In reality, they do not understand what they are doing because, above Ahasuerus, there is another king, entirely concealed, a king who guides everything to bring all of humanity to the attainment of the Creator. This is possible only through the Jews because within them lies the secret, the spiritual gene, that enables them to do so.

Haman is an egoistic desire that cannot be corrected, but can only be destroyed. Haman and his ten sons represent an evil system, unfit for correction, a system that opposes the rule of the upper force and the desire to bestow and love thy neighbor as thyself. Haman cannot accept this, so we need to eliminate such desires within us.

The immense egoistic desire Haman is preparing to kill everyone including Mordecai and King Ahasuerus, in order to rule the entire kingdom himself. This huge egoism cannot cooperate with other forces, but seeks absolute power over all. Therefore, today Haman manifests everywhere: in religions, beliefs, and the leadership of countries if they are claiming that they alone should govern the world.

But the Scroll of Esther tells us that by the king’s decree, Haman is hanged on the tree he prepared for Mordecai, and the city of Shushan celebrates its deliverance. Thus, we come to a point where evil no longer exists in the world because we have destroyed and nullified it.

In essence, the Scroll of Esther tells us how humanity reveals all evil in the world and understands the need to eradicate human egoism, the desire to receive for one’s own sake. This is how we achieve a completely good state and the end of correction where there is no evil left in the world.

This is what the Purim holiday is dedicated to, to celebrate and drink until “one does not know the difference between Haman and Mordecai” because there is no more Haman in the world and there is no need to fear egoism!

The evil Haman hides within each person and within all nations because it represents the egoistic desire to rule over others. If we can escape from this evil and distance ourselves from it, then we will approach the revelation of good, the upper system that governs us.

Without evil, it is impossible to reveal good or even approach it. Evil exists precisely to make us feel the need for good, and directs us toward it.

We need to identify this evil in every person, in every country, and in the world. Just as Mordecai, Esther, and Ahasuerus wisely acted against Haman, we need to bring about the disappearance of the evil force from the world. We must learn this from the Scroll of Esther, and I hope we will achieve it!
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From KabTV’s “New Life – 1094” 3/14/19

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Get Closer to Understanding Spirituality

525Question: The Book of Zohar has two levels: the language of feeling and the language of spiritual definition. How can we use both levels to help us rise above the story and feel its spiritual meaning?

Answer: To help us understand the spiritual meaning, the Creator created not one person but many people by breaking the common soul into parts and thereby allowing us to unite.

If we unite over our egoism, we will be able to understand the Creator and all of nature more and better.

Question: How can I feel everything described in this book is happening to me?

Answer: This happens by the upper light, called The Zohar. We should only strive to bring each other closer and to positively influence each other.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/15/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “To Understand the Words of The Zohar”

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Concede to Each Other!

565.02Question: What advice would you give to couples who cannot decide to marry due to various reasons?

Answer: They should consider starting a family, having children, and reaching maximum closeness between them in this world, that will only benefit them. Marriage and parenthood are part of the spiritual development couples undergo as a husband or wife.

Many think they win by pushing the other person, but you should concede instead. That is your advantage. You should feel you are doing the right thing when you step toward another.

So good luck to everyone, and be strong. Concede to each other!
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From KabTV’s “Man and Woman” 3/5/24

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Questions about Spiritual Work—96

961.2Question: We have a sense of self-awareness that we are a reality that can receive and bestow light. In the quality of the Creator, we feel ourselves as part of a single system with Him. How do we reconcile these two qualities in the work of the ten since they are essentially different?

Answer: Yes, they relate to different qualities, but we must try to combine them. Gradually, we will succeed in doing so.

Question: How can we strengthen the intention to bestow in the ten?

Answer: We need to talk about it more, and while performing actions, you should try to feel that you are uniting and turning to the Creator. Then longing toward Him will be stronger, and you will come to His revelation.

Question: Can a person studying Hasidic texts embrace the dissemination of Bnei Baruch and begin to strive for the Creator?

Answer: Of course. That person needs to get acquainted with what we do. We want to reach the feeling of the Creator. That is what he should engage in. He needs to read our books and immerse himself in them a little.

Question: If a person is part of a whole and included in the system, how can he pray for others without thinking about himself? What is unconditional love? How can one love unconditionally at all?

Answer: I do not know how to explain it because it is a feeling. You have to try to let these feelings pass through you, through your connections with the friends, and then you will have the opportunity to understand what this is about.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/13/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Torah and the Creator Are One”

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The Power of Imagination

1.02Question: In the wisdom of Kabbalah, we often hear the term “imagine to yourself.” What kind of creature is a person if they can change their states with imagination? When we imagine something good, in a way, we change our state. Where does this happen within us?

Answer: A person as if consists of two systems. In one system, he feels; in the other, he can imagine something, even if it is opposite to his feelings. Therefore, when we read the explanations of the Kabbalists, we desire to feel what they describe. Let us do just that.

Gradually, by tuning ourselves to different understandings, sensations, and bestowal, our brain will transition from sensations to feelings so that feelings will operate in the mind.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/13/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Torah and the Creator Are One”

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