The greater an obstacle on my path, the greater “help from the opposite” I see in it, meaning that I become similar to the Light according to the character and properties of my egoism. If I rise above my egoism, in all of its properties, I can become similar to the Light. Otherwise, I wouldn’t know how to equalize myself to it.

I have to feel all these obstacles to the smallest detail. I become included in them and I rise above them through the force of the Light. However, they are precisely what shape me in the form of the Light since neither the Light nor the desire to enjoy has their own form. How else can we achieve this similarity? How can we connect two absolute opposites: the desire and the Light?

For this reason they are divided by partitions, rungs of the ladder, or degrees as a way of connection between them. The desire to enjoy, by absorbing all these obstacles, eventually becomes similar to the Light. Inside it remains the same desire to receive pleasure. However, these filters help it become similar to the Light. It only needs to rise above these filters! It should not take them as obstacles which weaken the Light, but rather include them into itself in the opposite form. This is called to advance by “faith above reason.”

We need to rise from the state where Bina is included into Malchut and Malchut rules over Bina to the opposite state: where Bina rules over Malchut and the properties of Bina become the defining ones. All these forms between Infinity (Keter) and the final, fourth stage (Malchut) are called the names (properties) of the Creator. They serve as examples for the Light to create Malchut and influence her.

At the same time, Malchut can use the opposite HaVaYaH (from herself toward Keter) and be clothed in the Light (to converse with the Light) in order to become similar to it. These eight Sefirot between Keter and Malchut are like a common language possible between the Light and the desire, between the Creator and the creature.

For this reason they are called the holy names since a name is a revelation, meaning the attainment of the Creator’s specific property in relation to us, Malchut. However, whatever I do not attain I cannot define by a name.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/7/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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The Upper One exposes to us its lower part, Malchut, as a black void, promising nothing good. The “Upper World” (the spiritual world) is presented to us so unattractive on purpose. Meanwhile, in “this world” that we feel in the Keter of the lower one, we find at least some pleasure.

I exist in such state that even this world doesn’t attract me, and the state of the Upper One seems to be even worse. Actually, I am not even filled in my egoistic, receiving desires, but the Upper One loads some more on me by suggesting: “You wanted to be in bestowal!” I don’t have anything, and yet the Upper One is telling me: “Come on, share what you have with the others!”

Hence, I can accept what the Upper One suggests solely without thinking, without any conditions, and not through my own efforts. I can do it only by the force of the Light, without making any plans and having hopes to fill my egoism and receive some benefit in “this world.”

Most important for a person is to reach the state of bestowal. And then, he will have everything, but only after he rejects it! He will receive fulfillment (satisfaction), yet not through reception, but through bestowal.

This is how we should view the month of Elul before the beginning of the New Year, the start of one’s spiritual journey. ELUL, as an acronym, means “I am for my Beloved, and my Beloved is for me.” The Upper One hands down these hopeless conditions to me so that with their help I may break free from my egoistic state. In fact, if He promised me something good, I would never be able to tear away from my egoism, as I am chained to it by pleasure.

It is written: “The Creator places man’s hand on a good fate” by submerging his life into darkness and void but, on the other hand, reveals to man a tiny beam of Light to show the way out of the dark. This beam of Light is not an egoistic, material gain. The Creator provides me with the help on my spiritual path: He brings me to a Kabbalistic group, where I can exercise my free will and choose the correct environment.

The Light “illuminates” a bit, meaning that it gives me a sensation that bestowal in particular is the Light. It makes me feel that the Light is ascent above my egoism when it doesn’t matter whether it’s filled or empty since what counts is Whom I’m connected with.

The Creator lets me know the following: You suffer in the corporeal state, so don’t seek material fulfillment. Rather, being in this state, look upward: Think about what other life may exist, in other values, in bestowal, in another dimension (of happiness).

This means that a beam of Light is shining onto me through the cracks in the wall that separates me from the Upper World, the world of peace (rest from my egoism and worry about filling it) and perfection (aspiration to bestowal and love).

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/6/10, Shamati #42

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Malchut wants to become similar to Bina and achieves this through Zeir Anpin (ZA). ZA is a model for her. Her being able to become similar to ZA indicates her ability to be similar to Bina.

The same applies to us. If I want to become like the Creator, I have to enter the group, become its integral part, participate together with everyone, influence everyone, and receive their influence in return. In such a mixing, in the connection between us, I acquire a new form of unification with others. Then the form that clothes me resembles the Creator.

In other words, if I clothe the group onto myself as if it were a garment, I, thus, am similar to the Creator.

From the 2rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/7/10, The Zohar

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The Creator conceived creating a being that would reach His level and status, would understand all that the Creator had done, and feel all that the Creator feels. In other words, this being will become exactly like the Creator!

But in order to become equivalent to the Creator and remain a created being without having to dissolve in Him, the creature has to reconcile two opposing forces within: reception and bestowal. Besides, how can one comprehend anything without comparing it with its opposite? If am created in such way that I exist in complete harmony with the surrounding environment and total adhesion and oneness with all, then I am neither aware of or feel it.

A sensation comes in only as a result of some opposing force, when I am disturbed or lack something. It is this conflict that I feel. I don’t remember that I have a head until it hurts. If my ear starts aching, I feel that I have an ear. It is the same regarding my feelings involving the world around me. For as long as everything is all right, we don’t think about it for we don’t feel that which is around us.

Therefore, if a created being has to attain reality (both spiritual and corporeal), he must be in conflict with it. In all his feelings, attributes, thoughts, desires, and goals the creature has to oppose the Creator. And that’s how we are made, just as the Creator intended us to be.

He is the Upper Light, and we are the black point of desire, completely opposite to Him. Yet, it is impossible to evolve from the darkness alone which is opposite to the Light. It creates unbearable pain that doesn’t allow advancement. Thus, the Creator creates a specific reality: Malchut of the World of Infinity and the whole system of concealment (the worlds). This is done in order for us to gradually move away from this Infinity where we all exist in adhesion and within the Light and then descend into our current state of existence.

This entire journey was done for us; we didn’t have to suffer and feel it since well in advance (before we came into the picture) a system of governance was created: the worlds of ABYA (Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya). As to us, we appeared in the final stage of this system and experience ourselves as coming into this world and living in it. And we don’t feel being opposite to something and needing to find what it is.

But gradually, through minor disturbances and thousands of years of our development, the Creator evokes in us the desire for Him. Having completed our corporeal evolution, we arrive at the starting point of the spiritual one: the advent of the question of the purpose of life. From this point on, we begin our ascension to the spiritual world.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/3/10, Shamati #50

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It is said, “I cannot dwell in the same place with the proud.” Where there is pride, there can be no Light.

At first, a guest treats himself with food from the Host’s table; he doesn’t feel or see that the Host exists. Suddenly he discovers that the Host does exist, and the dishes he treats himself to come from His table with everything belonging to the Host. A guest also learns that the dishes on the table were not put there by chance; rather, they were prepared specifically for him with love. He sees that the Host loves him and has to respond to Him in some way. This is why he becomes incapable of receiving from Him. He doesn’t know what to do!

The problem is not in receiving, but in the relationship itself. I don’t want to feel indebted, nor do I want to be in a place where I’m loved or hated too much. Moreover, a surplus of love is a hindrance since there is nothing I can repay or return for it.

How can I repay Him for the love I’ve received? I can accept enjoyment from Him, but it’s my animate part that receives pleasure, and yet His love is directed at the human being in me! What should I do? Through this, He forces me to relate to Him with all my heart. I either have to stop visiting Him or think of a way to repay Him.

Therefore, I separate myself from Him with pride, using it as a barrier. I rise above His attitude towards me, above hatred and love as if they don’t exist. It operates in me like a protective force, a self-defense that allows me to not feel shame or love.

Pride originates from the vacant space within creation and stems from the Serpent, Malchut of the World of Infinity. All other properties can be corrected except for pride because it separates us from the Creator, breaks the connection with Him.

If I am in a group, everything is permissible (conflicts and so on) except pride. By being proud, a person cuts off the influence of his surroundings and thereby has no chance to advance.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/14/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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The Zohar, Chapter “Lech Lecha (Go Forth),” Item 237: When the Creator, Bina, wished to create the world, which is ZA, He elicited one flame of the harsh spark and blew wind into wind, and the flame was darkened, as well as burned. He elicited a single drop from the sides of the deep and put them together—the drop and the flame—and created the world with them, ZA.

The Upper Governance descends to us from the system called GAR of the World of Atzilut. Below it, resides Zeir Anpin whom we call the Creator because he is the Upper One in relation to Malchut of the World of Atzilut, the place of the gathering of all souls.

At present, however, our souls are broken and they reside below Malchut. When the broken souls desire correction, they raise their prayer to her. Yet, how do they know what this correction entails? They wish to stick together! They say: “We are willing to pledge for each other and unite!” Malchut means assembly of all souls that yearn for the Creator (Isra-El). Only he who wants to be with the others without any exception will be able to enter Malchut; and the one who doesn’t will not.

The condition is very clear and simple, and everyone is welcome. The door is open, come in! But at the entrance, you will have to meet the condition, and if you do, you will enter; if you don’t you will not. If you wish to come in, prepare yourself.

All souls who enter Malchut come together and raise a prayer to the Creator (Zeir Anpin). This prayer is a request to become similar to Him. In the beginning, with the help of the group, we raise our first prayer to Malchut. From Malchut, we raise the prayer (MAN) further, to Zeir Anpin. Zeir Anpin collects our prayer and raises it to Bina (Ima Ilaa), and there, he receives the force, Light, and anti-egoistic screens on our behalf. Then, he descends and passes this force down to Malchut, who passes it on to the souls included in her. In this way, everyone who has entered Malchut is granted the entire Light promised to him from Above.

This is what all of The Zohar is talking about. And this is the only system that exists in Universe.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/30/10, The Zohar

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It is said in Mishnah (Ta’anit 26:2): There are no happier days for Israel than the 15th of Av and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) for on them the maidens of Jerusalem used to go out dressed in white garments, borrowed ones, however, in order not to cause shame to those who had none of their own… and thus the maidens went out and danced in the vineyards, saying: ‘Young men, look and observe well whom you are about to choose?’

The pretty ones among the maidens, what did they say? "Regard but beauty alone because a woman is made for beauty." Those from the noble families among them, what did they say? "Rather look to a family for a woman is made to bear children." The wealthy ones among the maidens, what did they say? "Look at those with considerable wealth." The ill-favored ones among them, what did they say? "Take us for the glory of Heaven and crown us with the golden adornments."

The “ill-favored maidens of Jerusalem” is the last phase of Malchut, Dalet-de-Dalet, called “poor and wretched.” A person runs away from a work like this, having no motivation or desire for it because all this work is by “faith above reason.” But it is created this way on purpose to help one attain spirituality.

A person has to understand that if his egoistic desire doesn’t work any more, if he lacks any desire at all, or if the beauty or fulfillment doesn’t attract him any longer, then it is a sign that he needs another type of “fuel.” A person is given the chance to imagine a state in which he isn’t “bribed” by his egoism and to understand that if he continues working in the same manner, it will be “for the sake of bestowal.”

However, where does he get “anti-fuel” that will allow him to work without energy or fulfillment of his egoism? This is the state where a person starts to comprehend that he needs the Creator’s help. If he doesn’t get power from Above called the Light, he won’t be able to move at all. If someone wants to reach bestowal without being compensated by “wealth,” “beauty,” or “nobility,” but rather chooses a “poor and wretched wife” (according to an estimation of his own egoism), that is, if he chooses to bestow unconditionally, then he arrives at The Day (property of the Light) of Joy and Love (15th of Av).

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/26/10, Article “15th of Av”

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The Zohar, Chapter “Lech Lecha (Go Forth),” Item 116: Woe unto the wicked of the world who do not know and do not look to understand that all that there is in the world is from the Creator, that He alone did, does, and will do all the deeds in the world. He knows in advance all that will unfold in the end, as it is written, “Declaring the end from the beginning.” And He watches and does things in the beginning in order to repeat them and to do them perfectly after some time.

The end of the action lies in the initial Plan. Everything returns from Bina to Keter and from Keter to Bina. Between them, in the upper part of a Partzuf, which relates to the Upper One, is where all the work occurs on the lower part of the Partzuf, from ZAT of Bina and down until Malchut.

We are inside Malchut and from our position we do not see the causes of the actions taking place in Bina, nor the goal that all of this must lead to, which comes from Keter. We are opposite to them due to having opposite qualities. As long as Malchut does not acquire qualities of Bina, it cannot understand Keter, the Upper Governance.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/22/10, The Zohar

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The World of Atzilut acts in a totally new way regarding the World of Adam Kadmon since the spiritual objects (Partzufim) that are created in it are born only after the breaking of the vessels. Since the breaking took place between the Worlds of Atzilut and Adam Kadmon, their initial data are absolutely different.

Before the World of Adam Kadmon, there was only Malchut of Infinity which was filled with Light, desires, the power of screens, and the willingness to reach the end of correction. From this state, the World of Adam Kadmon was born. However, its development ended with the breaking in the World of Nekudim; the breaking gave rise to a completely new starting point.

Now, development occurs not from Above downwards but from below upwards starting with the embryo (Ibur) of each Partzuf. Every Partzuf goes through the following three stages: the embryo, feeding/nurturing, and maturity (Gadlut). After it grows up and corrects itself, it is now able to give birth to the next Partzuf that develops in exactly the same manner by going through the stages of small, medium, and big. Each Partzuf doesn’t descend from Above downwards any more, but grows from below upwards.

However, on the other hand, these Partzufim expand from Above downward, from the head of the World of Atzilut to the end of the World of Assiya. Each Upper One, after it has reached Gadlut (the grown state), produces (in relation to itself) a lower Partzuf as an embryo. Then, the Upper One feeds/nurtures the lower one, and raises it by providing the necessary conditions for the latter to grow and mature by transferring to it all Reshimot in order for the lower one to start working independently.

A peculiar synthesis occurs here. On one hand, the Upper One gives birth to the lower one. On the other, the lower one, after being born, begins developing from below upwards.

This process occurs in all the Worlds of ABYA (Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya) that are designated to provide the environment for man’s ascension. A human being grows solely from below upwards. He goes through the stages of the embryo, feeding/nurturing, and maturity at each stage. Then, he ascends (not descends) to the next Partzuf and enters the same stages of embryo, feeding/nurturing, and maturity. The entire ascension occurs only from below upwards in the order of the Partzufim, one after the other, the higher after the lower, and following the order of stages in each Partzuf.

• In the World of Infinity, everything is one whole.
• In the World of Adam Kadmon, development takes place from Above downwards.
• In the Worlds of ABYA, expansion takes place from Above downwards, but the growth of each Partzuf is from below upwards.
• After the primordial sin of the First Man with the Tree of Life, we grow and ascend only from below upwards like an inverted reflection of the World of Adam Kadmon.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/28/10, “Preface to the Sulam Commentary”

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The Zohar, Chapter “VaYetze (And Jacob Went Out),” Item 59: “And behold, the Lord stood above it.” Here in the ladder, Jacob saw the connection of faith, the Nukva, tying all the Sefirot as one. “Stood above it” is as it is written, “A pillar of salt,” a mound, since all the degrees as one are on that same ladder, the Nukva, connecting everything in one knot because that ladder was given between the two sides.

It is written, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac.” Those are the two sides, right and left—Abraham is right and Isaac is left.

Malchut is an image, a picture of the Creator. We are within Malchut. Actually, we are Malchut and we sense everything within as a picture of this world. In fact, we always sense the Creator and nothing but Him. The problem is that we sense Him in accordance with our properties and to the level of our similarity with Him.

Sensations always come from the Light, but the desire (the vessel of its perception) senses itself as a certain object depending on its opposition or similarity to the Light. That’s why the Higher Sefirot constitute properties that are present in Malchut and include the Creator’s attitude toward Malchut’s attempts to become similar with them. They are called Sefirot since they illuminate inside Malchut which “lights” them because of its corrected desire to receive pleasure in order to bestow. That’s why it is luminescent.

The Upper Light doesn’t illuminate itself; it is hidden. Only to the degree that the lower one advances and attempts to become similar to the Upper One do the properties of the lower one light up and then are called Sefirot.

Everything we feel begins and ends within Malchut. Anything we can imagine existing prior to Malchut is an illusion of our perception. Similarly, we envision a certain reality around us, but in fact there is nothing at all; everything is within us. We simply divide all of reality into “me” and “something outside of me.”

The same happens in spirituality: We divide all of reality into a soul that as of yet has no sensation of itself and something that is outside of it. But when our correction is complete, everything comes together and there is no difference between “external” and “internal”; everything merges into one point.

As a person advances, he begins to see that even though the whole picture around him becomes wider, more intense, and complicated, at the same time, it concentrates and organizes itself into ten Sefirot. This allows us to arrive at the conclusion that everything depends on our perception, that is, on the measure of our similarity with the Light.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/14/10, The Zohar

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