No matter what we do, we always act for the sake of our egoism and we never go against it. It was in order to help us exit our egoism and enter the Upper World that we were given the Light of Correction. This Light influences us even when we strive for an egoistic goal, such as when we are afraid of ending our lives without achieving anything of greatness, when we desire to feel eternity and perfection, and to enter the eternal spiritual world.

A person sees that he gets nothing from his earthly life. It is short and empty, and nothing remains of it once it’s over. We, as humanity, had to go through thousands of years of egoistic development just in order to come to this realization. And the majority of people still don’t stop to think about this even today, being preoccupied by the mundane concerns of daily life.

For now, they are still not so concerned about the meaning of life, as they are about how to gain the most in life. Their inner desires haven’t yet ripened sufficiently to ask about the meaning of life.

But if the point in the heart awakens in a person, he begins being concerned about his life after death. And later on he comes to understand that he can attain the sensation of eternal life even while living in this world.

Thus, he begins to study Kabbalah books, even though his objectives are still egoistic: He wants to master the World of infinity, to feel, understand and control everything. But gradually, the Light inside these books changes him and instills new values in him. He learns how to lie to his own body and to force it to work for the spiritual goal. And eventually he comes to agree and accept the path that the Creator has set for him.

The Light then raises him above his ego and brings him to the quality of bestowal. He thereby acquires a new mind and an understanding of the entire system of reality; he reveals the Upper Worlds and the thought of creation.
(From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

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Preparation to the Lesson
The Daily Kabbalah Lesson is the best opportunity to attract the force of correction. It’s a time when a multitude of desires unite into one great aspiration.
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Part 1, on Writings of Rabash
At every moment, you have to leave room for the Light to work inside your desire.
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Part 2, on “Preface to the Sulam Commentary”
I am influenced by two opposite forces: the right line and the left line. My task is to build the middle line: my independent aspiration toward the Creator.
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Part 3, on “Thou Hast Hemmed Me In Behind and Before”
This world is egoism. The spiritual world is bestowal.
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A question I received: When we learn how to bestow, will the mutual bestowal between our souls in the spiritual world influence our material world?

My Answer: Of course. Our current, uncorrected attitudes to one another awaken forces of envy and hatred in our world, which is why our world looks they way it does. If we attract the force of correction (the force of mercy) from Above, then positive forces will descend into our world, bringing us peace, unity, balance, safety and tranquility.

We cannot influence anything within the plane of this world. We see that no matter how much we try to do something in our world, nothing ends up right. People think that they can change something in their personal lives because they see that they advance there. But on the global scale, we see that no one is in control of the situation. The latest crises (including those in education, culture, family life, economy and finance, and the ecology) are making us realize that we are absolutely unable to withstand them.

All of this is purposeful, intended only in order to show us time and time again that we cannot correct anything within the plane of this world. Our world is but a result of the Upper Forces’ influence. That is why we have to ascend to the level of these forces and from there, change their influence on us here, in this world.

If we attract the Upper Light during our studies, when we connect with one another, then we will undoubtedly elicit very big improvements in our world. This is the only chance we have to affect our world.
(From Part 3 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

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Questions I received about women’s role in the world’s correction, unity and being a Kabbalah student:

Question: If a woman does not go through recognition of evil, then what does she feel before she crosses the Machsom? What is her state just before the Machsom? If a woman does not go through recognition of evil, then what does she correct?

If both a man and woman are in Kabbalah, do they pass the Machsom together or can each of them pass it separately?

What is the difference between the unity achieved between men in the group and the unity attained between a man and a woman?

My Answer: Each one is for oneself with the help of all!

Question: What are the challenges and opportunities of the global economic crisis to women?

My Answer: It is the equal participation with men in the future correction of the world.

Question: Today I saw an old interview with you by a Russian journalist. There you said that you don’t have female students. My question is, if you don’t have female students what are you for the women who engage in Bnei Baruch and who follow the lectures?

My Answer: That was long, long ago…

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While I was by Rabash’s side, I was always surprised at how short and formal the burial ceremonies were. A person has to perform the ritual: come to the cemetery, say a few words over the grave, and leave. And he has to come back once a year, not more.

In the corporeal sense, this ritual is somber, but in the spiritual sense, it is joyful! We are actually holding a ritual that a person should be happy about. He should rejoice about getting rid of his “body,” about the fact that his egoistic desire has died and the desire to bestow and love, called the “soul,” has ascended to a new level. It rose from the earthly level, reception, to the “heavens” – bestowal!

When you return once a year to your buried desire, you check whether there is anything more you can take from it in order to correct it and ascend even higher. After all, the ascent can only take place by way of correction, by turning egoism to bestowal.

After that comes the “revival of the dead,” when we correct all our desires and nothing remains in the “grave.” The dead (desires) will then be revived and the burial rituals will no longer be performed.

Rabash was a person who acted as no Kabbalist had before. He accepted secular students into his group, which was located in the midst of the Jewish Orthodox populace in the city of Bnei Brak. And he taught these students the science of Kabbalah. In those times, this was a real revolution. He went against his family, the people close to him, and the social opinion of the entire Orthodox community.

Despite everything, he dared to do this, and he made a breakthrough. He started writing articles and giving lessons for beginners, including secular people. He did everything possible to spread the Teaching.

The most important thing he left behind is his articles and his spirit. Everything we have today, our entire foundation was laid by him. I always feel that I continue none else but his work. That is why I feel the inner forces to continue. The way we study, explain and formulate things, all comes from him. I hope to continue to transmit everything I have, including Rabash’s spirit, which I received from him, to you.

This person is essentially a bridge, an intermediate link connecting all the great Kabbalists of the past, from Abraham to Baal HaSulam, to us. Through his spirit, he passed the science of Kabbalah on to us. We are living inside his Kli, and he supports us.

We have to thank the Creator for giving us this soul, which continues to include us within and develops us even today. Any spirituality we attain is in virtue of his help, his force that acts among us. This is why we are called, “Bnei Baruch” – the Sons of Baruch. Let us hope that we truly will become the sons of Baruch Ashlag, the Rabash.
(From my talk at Rabash’s grave this morning, 09.23.2009)

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Our world does not pertain to the spiritual world; therefore, there is no need to correct it. While living in this world, I discover a point in my heart – the embryo of a spiritual desire. I need to extract it from the other desires, expand it, and correct it in a way that will make it possible to reveal the spiritual world within it.

Our world remains the same. Until the very end of a person’s spiritual correction, he should feel this reality without trying to correct it with his own strength. Why? Because it is impossible to do so! History has taught us this through every step of our development.

With this attitude towards our world, the science of Kabbalah differs from other sciences, spiritual and corporeal methodologies, belief systems, and religions. In other system, people direct their efforts within the plane of our world, which is not where they should. Our world will only change for the worse due to those actions, since it does not become truly corrected and more time passes by.

Yet if a point in the heart awakens in a person, by following the path of Kabbalah, he begins to widen his point in the heart until it encompasses the sphere where he perceives the Upper World, the Upper Dimension. He begins his ascent from this central point, acquiring a screen and the Reflected Light, which is the force of bestowal.

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A question I received: Why did so many Kabbalists burn their manuscripts?

My Answer: To Kabbalists, it is sometimes enough for the revelation of the concealed to be written down or said out loud. It may even be enough for a Kabbalist to just think something, since he corrects creation with his thoughts and desires.

This is why they don’t feel bad about burning their texts after writing them. Kabbalists only keep their manuscripts if the generation is able to use them correctly. This is the reason why many Kabbalists, including Baal HaSulam, burned their books and manuscripts. And there were great Kabbalists, like Baal Shem Tov, who didn’t even write down a single word their whole lives.

In addition, a Kabbalist immediately sees the consequence of his correction in the souls. This is very different from how people in our material world do something “good” for their neighbor, and it later turns into evil. If a person doesn’t correct what he is supposed to on his own and we do it for him, it is as though we rob him. And we also go against the Creator.

If a person’s life is not going right, then this is purposefully done by the Creator in order to force him to correct his attitude to the people around him. But instead of correcting the problems by fixing the connection between us, we try to make up for it through charity in the material world. As a result, the world just rolls downhill and reaches even graver states than before.

Therefore, Kabbalists perform truly great corrections through their spiritual work, while all other actions only cause the opposite effect. We have yet to reveal this.
(From Part 3 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

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A regular person sees himself and this world, comprised of inanimate matter, vegetation, animals, and people. However, Kabbalists see a transparent reality. Through our world, they see the Upper World and the entire thickness of the desire, where the Thought of Creation becomes realized. They then describe what is happening there to us, revealing a certain part of it.

This is why we find it so difficult to grasp their language and the examples they use, which seem so removed from our lives, and to figure out what their hints are saying. We’d prefer to hear a clear, brief explanation.

However, the reason they write this way is because what we need isn’t clear instructions, but the Light of Correction that is concealed in their books. Therefore, we should just accept what they write with complete trust, and believe that this is precisely the best way for us to receive the Light of Correction. It’s true that if they wanted to, they could have summed up the meaning of the whole article in one sentence or a paragraph. But then it would lack the force of correction.

Therefore, while reading these articles, which are full of complicated quotes and long-winded discourse (as it seems to us), we should focus only on how the Light of Correction is affecting us at that moment.

It doesn’t matter whether I understand what I am reading or not, or whether I feel it or not. No matter what, I am anticipating the Light! The most important thing is for the “medicine” to work.
(From Part 1 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, on Rabash’s article, “A person is like a tree in a field”)

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In the News (from AlertNet): “From Polar ice rim, Ban issues call for urgent action on climate change” – Standing on rapidly melting polar ice, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appealed to the world for urgent measures to be taken to combat climate change to protect the planet for future generations.

Witnessing the impacts of climate change on icebergs and glaciers first-hand, he said that he was informed by scientists that global warming is altering the Arctic faster than any other area. “We must stop this from further happening, “the Secretary-General stressed. “Unless we fight climate change, unless we stop this trend, we’ll have devastating consequences for humanity.” “We do not have any time to lose, “Mr. Ban underscored.

My Comment: Countries will not be able to come to any agreement. The Creator won’t allow it, since it might calm them down. By giving us blows,  He forces us to recognize the cause of the crises – interpersonal egoism, and He will force us to accept the method of correction – Kabbalah.

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On the spiritual degrees, the difference between opposites is much less bearable than in our world. After all, everything comes from the initial state, where the Creator, who is Good and Does Good, created egoism – the desire to receive pleasure, which is opposite to Him.

The Creator is inside this desire, which he manages. The desire to receive and the desire to bestow are outcomes of a single force, the Creator. We are incapable of withstanding the manifestation of these opposite desires from a single source until we reach Final Correction.

But when we do, we will see that these two opposites can be together, because then, in that point which was created as “something from nothing,” the material from which it was created – the absence of the Creator – becomes annihilated. This point then becomes completely bestowing, like Him.

This is why the existence of opposites is the reason for all of creation’s development until its final correction.
(From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

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