A question I received: From what part of the spiritual world does the Light of The Zohar come down to us?

My Answer: It comes from Rosh de Arich Anpin in the form of the Surrounding Light, for the Light of The Zohar is the Light of Infinity, the upper shining. This Light does not “come to us,” but rather shines upon us “from afar” and brings us back to the Source. It shines upon us through all the worlds that reduce it, and illuminates our desires that are opposite to it.

This is not the “direct” system of connection based on the screens and the Inner Light received, whereby the Light is revealed to the measure of one’s ability to bestow. Rather, since I don’t yet have the screen, the Light acts upon me from afar, and not to the measure to which I can receive for the sake of bestowal, but in the measure I can heal myself with its help.

Sometimes a person comes to a doctor who tells him: “What can I do? You need a very strong medicine, but your body won’t be able to endure it.” It happens with older people or with people who were seriously hurt. The cure exists but one’s body is too weak to take it; it can’t digest it. It may harm a person rather than help him.

The same applies in regard to the Surrounding Light, which acts upon me only to the extent to which it can heal me, that is, to the extent that I can endure it. This is because I receive the Light, the property of bestowal, as poison, as death to my egoism.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/2/10, “Preface to the Sulam Commentary”

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A question I received: The chapter we’re reading in The Zohar is called "Command" (Tetzaveh). What does "command" mean in spirituality?

My Answer: This refers to the command that has been assigned to us. To join the work of the Creator, we first have to try to recognize our desire and the reason for our creation. We need to feel our state as being opposite to the Creator in order to become "creatures."

However, this isn’t enough. This is just the first recognition of one’s nature. After that, a person has to try to become similar to the Creator. Then, he’ll discover he’s incapable of doing so. When he nevertheless presses forward and strives to reach the next level of recognizing himself, he discovers that he has no desire to become similar to the Creator. Besides being opposite to the Creator and unable to become similar to Him, he doesn’t even want it.

Yet, while undergoing this process, each time a person raises the significance of the Creator, the importance of the goal, and sees his own state as low and insignificant, he continues to search until he finally realizes that there is a system of connection between the souls, and from it, he can receive additional strength. Then, he indeed will desire and be able to reveal all his opposition to the Creator, his lack of the desire, and the opportunity to become similar to Him. Along with it, he will feel a pressing need for correction, for attainment of bestowal for the Creator, which will exceed many times the one he could have reached by himself.

Then, equipped with this "heavy ammunition" which he obtained through the power of the group with the property of the mutual guarantee (within which the Creator exists as a guarantor and supports all this system), a person comes and appeals to Him. He now has something to appeal with. Before this, he couldn’t make a correct appeal.

This is the way a person reaches the influence of the Light that Reforms. He has realized his free choice and has come to the state in which the Creator grants him the strength. Then, within that Light, he begins to see what he needs to correct, as it is written, "In Your Light we will see the Light." A person begins to see the Creator’s command: to correct all his 613 uncorrected properties, one by one.

Now one understands how each property, force, and desire is corrupted, how it can be corrected, what he gains by this correction,and how he influences the entire common system.  Through the common system, the Creator is revealed. Thus, he gradually goes through the entire process of the Torah and commandments. He corrects all his desires by the intention to bestow for the sake of bestowal and even by the intention to receive for the sake of bestowal, which is not for the sake of pleasure, but rather, for the sake of the Upper One.

From the Evening Zohar Lesson 5/31/10

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People don’t know what the state of Lishma is, and often use this name to label completely non-spiritual states. They don’t understand that to attain Lishma is a great work, which is impossible without studying Kabbalah, the group, and obeying the rules of ascension explained by the Kabbalists.

In fact, Lishma means that you rise above your egoism and are entirely in bestowal. In the quality of bestowal, you see the spiritual world, and in this world, you exist only for the sake of spirituality. You identify yourself entirely with your soul, but your body still needs to be healthy in order to exist in both worlds. The soul can’t really advance if its other half, the body, doesn’t exist in this world. The soul needs the body until the very last step.

People don’t understand that to attain the quality of bestowal, Lishma, one has to draw the Light that returns us to the source of bestowal, to equivalence to the Creator. Afterward, a person is called “angel”, meaning he is openly receiving the Creator’s orders and following them through. He either “hears” or “sees” the Creator. He uncovers the Upper System, his relationship with the Creator in the Light Hassadim or maybe even Hochma. This attainment doesn’t have anything to do with the quantity and quality of knowledge, but only the measure of attainment of the quality of bestowal and love.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/1/10, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot, Item 122

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The Zohar, Chapter “VaYikra (The Lord Called),” Item 324: Happy are the righteous, for the Creator teaches them profound secrets of above and below, and it is all for the Torah, since anyone who engages in the Torah is crowned in the crowns of His Holy Name. This is so because the Torah is the Holy Name and one who engages in it is registered and crowned in the Holy Name, and then he knows the hidden ways and deep secrets of above and below, and he never fears.

There is no other way to connect with the Creator, with the true Upper reality (which we want to reveal, enter, and exist in), but with the help of the Light. It can shine upon us only if we cultivate the desire for it.

We can only develop this desire with the help of the group. A person only has a point in the heart, and in order to attract the Light that Reforms, he needs additional strength, which he can receive only from the group. The desire one receives from the group already has the intention to bestow, and with this force, he will have a connection with the Upper Light. In order to acquire a connection with his group, a person must lower himself before it and raise the importance of the goal.

In other words, he needs to work against his own desire to receive pleasure, against his ego. Therefore, when a person works with the group, he can appeal to the Light that Reforms so it will grant him a connection with the properties of bestowal, with the spiritual world.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/27/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: How can I conduct my point in the heart through the group, which functions as a spiritual amplifier?

My Answer: There are external means that we use: books, the group, the teacher, our study system, and connections around the whole world. These are the conditions that Kabbalists have fixed for us. If we realize them by building external boundaries for ourselves, and bring our desire for spirituality into this system, then this desire begins to grow.

Initially, I have just my single point in the heart. Then, I give it to my friends, thus receiving from them the points that belong to them. This system of connection between us, the souls, already exists. Everything is already prepared in advance during the descent of the worlds from above downwards, in order for us to ascend from our world to the World of Infinity.

All I have to do is tune into this system: Lower myself, see all others as corrected, and desire to receive the Light of Correction through them. Then I will receive desires for bestowal from all the other people, which will increase my desire. This will happen even though I initially had only my own small point in the heart, which probably wasn’t even aimed at the right goal. Yet, I invested in the group, desired to be a part of it, and therefore, I performed an act of bestowal. In response, I received a real force from others, a real desire to bestow.

You suddenly see that you really desire and value this. And then you start to experience fear: “Will I be able to attain bestowal to the Creator or will I complete my life in vain?” These are still egoistic thoughts, but they are already concerning how to attain bestowal. This is called “Lo Lishma“: When one a) aspires to give, and b) thinks about profiting.

It turns out that through the group you receive a more internal direction – to the Creator. But when you aspire to the Creator, you come closer to faith, and thus begin to draw the Surrounding Light upon yourself. It’s not that the Light changes, but it’s you who change, and therefore, the Light influences you differently. Now it can give you the quality of bestowal. When you acquire this quality, you begin to rise above your egoism.

This is what you wanted to achieve from the very beginning, but the Light arranged everything so that it happened according to your own desire, rather than by force. Suddenly you feel how you are filled by the quality of faith, meaning the quality of bestowal, Bina. It gives you freedom from your ego! And it’s not that it liberates you from your egoism, but it gives you the power to ascend above it. That’s when you rise above the Machsom.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/27/10, Article, “Love of Friends”

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A question I received: Many people in the world now suffer from depression; they don’t leave their homes for months, and require psychological help. What can help them?

My Answer: Depression is the most common illness in the world today. Only one remedy can be advised for it: the Light that Reforms. No psychologist can help in this regard for it is due to the Creator being revealed to us in the opposite form that is prompting rampant depression.

Once each of us felt that he or she was one little person around which the world was revealed in different layers of our egoism: 1, 2, 3. As our ego grew bigger and bigger, we developed in accordance with it by creating a new environment: a world of new technology and social relations. This is how we developed over the course of our entire history, stage by stage, 1 – 2 – 3, toward wealth, honor, and knowledge.

However, today we have come to the fourth level, which is a special one. At this level, what is becoming revealed is the Creator, the quality of “bestowal,” and not our developing ego, our property of “receiving.” This is the fundamental difference of our epoch, which is the epoch of revealing the Creator.

Previously, nature (the Creator) forced us to develop, that is, to grow and become smarter, more knowledgeable, understanding, and powerful. But now human beings have completed their development at the level of this world. People are recognizing the pointlessness of new discoveries, and everything gradually fades, the development of science, space research, and so on. We have completely depleted ourselves.

Today, in contrast to this, the Creator – a new nature – is revealed. And here we need to proceed in a different manner. We cannot enter a new stage with our egoism; we will only harm ourselves. We need to realize that a completely new approach has begun, and neither our strength, nor advanced technologies and scientific discoveries can help us.

Suddenly we will discover that all the systems that we built in this world have stopped working. All the former goals (money, power, knowledge, family, education, and culture) have lost their value. Darkness and despair are coming into the world, but this is because the Creator, the Force of bestowal is being revealed in it. We don’t want it, since it cancels out our egoism, our nature, and all our desires!

It is like a child who ran around wanting to play, and suddenly he is told “That’s enough. Now you have to give and to love. Go play with your little sister.” This is contrary to his nature, and hence his life becomes dark; he immediately loses all his energy.

Therefore, we can understand why people are sitting around depressed, unable to leave their homes for months at a time. Antidepressants are the most popular medicine today. However, I can advise that the Surrounding Light is the only medicine.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/28/10, Shamati #16

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A question I received: Is bestowal an act or a desire to give?

My Answer: What can you give to the Creator if He doesn’t lack anything except your attitude toward Him? He doesn’t need even this. The only thing He lacks is for you to become like Him. This will delight Him. Why? It’s because, then, you’ll exist in the most comfortable state. “But I don’t want to be in the most comfortable state. I want to think only about bestowal!” If you’re thinking about bestowal, you’re thinking about how to attain the most comfortable state.

What motivates you is essential. If it is to give to the Creator,  for this sake you attain the perfect state, or if  you desire this state because it’s the best and giving to the Creator looks like a reward? What are you working for?

You can’t have the will to bestow without realizing it. If you have this desire, you must fulfill it. The act of bestowal and the desire to bestow are the same. In the spiritual world, there aren’t physical actions. To attain the will to bestow is our entire work. Indeed, what can we give to the Creator? It is the will to bestow onto Him.

We discover the Light of Hochma. In regard to whom must we uncover this Light, the creature or the Creator? The Light of Hochma fills the entire system. You only discover yourself or your own perception by sensing that you enjoy, bestow, and become infinite. Your will (Kli) is the only thing that changes.

“I am bestowing onto the Creator.”  What are you bestowing?  Did He really lack Light before and now He’s got it? You’re giving Him your attitude. Your attitude to Him is called action. Your will is already an act. However, this will must be complete. Otherwise, it isn’t considered a will.

The desire has to evolve through all four stages. Then, undoubtedly, from the 4th stage, its Reflected Light reaches Keter, and this is bestowal. However, where is bestowal in Keter? One feels the he is bestowing onto the Creator, and this is enough. The Creator has no desires (Kelim) for either reception or bestowal. He has nothing.

Yet, when you perceive that you are bestowing to the Creator, it is His pleasure because He’s within you. You allow the Light to shine.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/25/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: Why is the spiritual system so complicated:  The creature asks for one thing and receives something entirely different?

My Answer: First of all, this is incorrect. The Creator and the creature can understand each other, work together, and have no disagreement provided they become partners. Then the creature receives what it asks for: The Creator knows in advance what the creature will ask for, gives it all that it needs, and there are no problems.

A problem arises only when the creature is not asking according to the order of the degrees, meaning it is asking for the sake of self-gratification. Then the creature naturally receives a burdening of the heart and suffering, in order for it to see that its state is not good and the aim is incorrect.

Therefore, it is only by incorrect communication between the creature and the Creator that makes it seem to the creature that the Creator doesn’t understand it, doesn’t do for it what is needed. With the incorrect aim, the creature presents numerous claims to the Creator: “So where is everything that I’m entitled to, why are you not correcting me, why are you not filling me?” However, as soon as the creature acquires the connection with the Creator, it knows exactly what portion of Light it is receiving, why, where to work by means of faith above reason, where by means of personal strength, and so on.

The Creator is interested in our getting to know Him and walking along His side. But where are we in communication with the Creator? In faith above reason. The creature desires to be in communication with the Creator under the Machsom, within the desire to receive, but the Creator tells him: “No, rise up to Bina, attain the qualities of bestowal. There we will understand each other, there you will have no problems with me!”

It is written, “The Creator created man to be direct, but people invent numerous calculations.” Numerous calculations are within the desire to enjoy, because there are a huge amount of all kinds of desires. However, if we cover all these desires with only an intention to bestow, then there are no longer numerous calculations. There is only one calculation, one destination.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/25/10, The Zohar

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We are created from matter which cannot receive Light. Therefore, the only way for us to exist is to enter Bina, the Creator. Bina works on us and raises us up to Her. Her lower part (AHP) descends to us and seems as darkness, which feels undesirable to us. She shines on us with the Light of Bestowal and Mercy (Hassadim), but since we don’t wish to bestow, we perceive it as darkness.

We prepare ourselves to view bestowal as desirable with the help of the Surrounding Light when we work together. Gradually we begin to recognize that there is the Upper One within us. We realize that He is truly the Upper One and we begin to value the quality of bestowal as spiritual. Then, we are prepared to unite with Him and annul ourselves. We are willing to forget about our egoistic desires and attach ourselves to the Upper One like a drop of semen in a mother’s womb.

Then, the Upper One can bring us up; can raise our desires that are ready to adhere to Him. Up where? In the spiritual world is there some other place, higher or lower? No; it is here within us where He begins to cultivate the qualities of bestowal more and more.

This means He is raising us up because we view the quality of bestowal as ascension. Every step we complete results from our more closely uniting with one another and building a system from ourselves that we can present to the Upper One for correction. In this way, we ascend to Bina, and the Light contained in Her expands downward to this world.

Thus, the desires that attach to the Upper One are now not only able to annul themselves, but also to receive and realize the quality of bestowal, to absorb and use it. Obviously, the will remains as receiving, but it changes its intent. So does our world, which is created from the will to receive pleasure; it also begins to gradually receive Effulgence from Above—since the will to bestow appears in it.

From the 2nd Part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/26/10, “The Preface to the Sulam Commentary”

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A question I received: How do I check whether I did really ascend on the spiritual ladder and am not deceiving myself to please my egoism?

My Answer: From the World of Infinity to our world and back up to the World of Infinity, there leads a ladder of spiritual steps that differ in the thickness or coarseness of desire (will to receive) and its screen which transforms it to bestowing. All differences are only in the screens.

As I am ascending the steps, the measure of my bestowal increases to equivalence with the one existing on the next higher level, yet my character, the original attributes, remains the same. Therefore, each of us ascending the same step bestows in a different way, in one’s personal style.

In our world, which in reference to the spiritual world appears as only one step, there are 7 billion people, all of whom are different. Similarly, at any one of the 125 steps of the spiritual worlds, there are 7 billion, and all of them are different, but they exist in one common form. In the spiritual world all exist for the sake of bestowal; but each step differs in the type of bestowal.

It seems to us that the only difference is in the quantity: greater or lesser bestowal. However, the 125 steps do not differ in the quantity of bestowal, but rather each of them is an absolutely different relationship with the Creator, another type of connection. This is why they are separated from each other.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/25/10, “Preface to the Sulam Commentary”

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